


Nothing Else Mattered

by madisonlamontagna



Series: Nothing Else Mattered 'Verse [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cas is a lady, F/M, Female!Cas, Genderbending, I knew nothing of Leviathans, I made that all up, I worte this withing a week of the episode airing, Post 7-02, Season 7 AU, Vessel Swap, girl!Cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-25
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 08:19:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/898050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madisonlamontagna/pseuds/madisonlamontagna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU Post 7.02: After the Leviathan take over Castiel, Dean resigns never to see his friend again, until an unexpected visitor turns up at Bobby's later that same day. Could it be his Angel back for redemption?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Else Mattered

**Author's Note:**

> I started this fic shortly after watching 7.03, when it became apparent that my favorite angel would not be returning for a while. Or that the show was even going to acknowledge him anymore. Anyway, this fic is AU from the beginning of episode 2 of Season 7. If you've seen it, you'll know exactly where it picks up. If you haven't go watch it. Feel my Destiel pain, then come read this. It'll do you some good.
> 
> I wrote all of this before the 5th episode of season 7 aired, so the majority of the lore and stuff we learned later in the season doesn't exist in my universe. So, sorry about that.
> 
> Also, this is my first of two attempts ever to write straight porn. I'm terrible at it, the one love scene at the end of the story is badly written, feel free to laugh at it and move on :)

Dean stood there, on the side of some random municipal lake, holding a sopping wet trench coat in his hands, trying not to let all his emotions show on his face. That was his best friend. Despite everything, despite all of the crap they'd been through and found out about since roasting Eve, that was still his best friend. And now he was gone. The closest thing he had to family after Sam and Bobby, the man who, he end, felt bad for everything he'd done and tried to undo it. Taken over by an evil he tried to rid the world of and probably killed. More than likely killed. Dead.

And it wasn't just that. Cas was… special. Dean loved having the nerdy angel around. Castiel was funny without trying to be, and then had no idea what he had just said was inappropriate, despite the fact that Sam and Dean were probably laughing their asses off at him. Dean had really cared about Castiel, to the point that Sam and Bobby had been teasing him about when he was going to come out of the closet and just confess he loved the guy. And though Dean would never admit it, even under torture, he kinda did love Cas. In that 'if only you were a chick, I would totally bang you' kind of way. And even kind of not in that way. Which freaked the hell out of Dean, so he wasn't even going to go there with those thoughts. It was over now anyway. They'd lost him, and that was that.

Hours later, back at Bobby's, Dean was hitting the bottle hard. Between just losing Cas, and the fact Sam was having bizarre, evil hell hallucinations, Dean didn't know a better way of coping with it than drowning himself in Jack. Lots and lots of straight Jack. Bobby didn't say anything, but Dean could tell just by looking at the older man that he wanted to. He was sure Sam would say something when he noticed.

"Dean…" Speak of the devil.

"What Sam?" Dean grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"We were gonna order some food. Any requests?" Sam asked, and Dean looked up at him in surprise. He could see the beginnings of a bitchface, and concern (as well as the crazies, but this was one of those things Dean was trying to forget) in his brother's eye, but Sam said nothing. Nothing about Dean's drowning his problems in alcohol, that is. So, Dean said nothing about the hell hallucinations.

"Nah, I don't care. Get whatever. As long as it had cheese on it." Dean replied, surprising himself by setting the bottle down. He had given up on glasses two hours ago. Following his brother into the kitchen, Dean parked his ass down in a chair, while Sam wandered into the other room, to make the call or research Leviathan or fix his hair. Whatever Sam did when he went off on his own. Bobby was at the little table as well, eyeing Dean like he was expecting him to yank a flask out of his ass or something. They glared mildly at each other for several minutes, until there was a weak knock on the front door, and Sam came back into the kitchen.

"Is that the food already?" Bobby asked. Sam shook his head slowly.

"I just hung up the phone. Food shouldn't be here for another half an hour." Sam replied, pulling his gun. Dean and Bobby followed suit, the three hunters stalking cautiously to the front door. Bobby unlocked it slowly, opening it up a crack, then throwing it open the whole way, shock registered in his expression.

"The hell are you?" he shouted, causing the mysterious intruder to flinch.

In front of them, leaning against the doorframe like she lacked the strength to stand, was a girl. She looked about Sam's age, late twenties, a year or two younger than Dean. She had dark hair, which was ratty and tangled and all over her face. Her jeans and tank top were tattered and worn, with dirt smeared all across the front, like she'd literally dragged herself up the steps to the door. And she was missing a shoe. She was panting heavily, and seemed to struggle to even lift her head. When she finally did, the hunters were met with a startlingly familiar pair of big blue eyes, full of fatigue and pain. Dean knew those eyes. But it couldn't be, it was impossible…

"Cas?" he asked, unsure if he should even hope. To the great surprise of the three men standing in the house, the girl managed a weak smile, eyes locked with Dean's.

"Hello Dean." She managed to say in a low, rough voice that sounded way too familiar, despite the fact that it was coming from a woman. Then she collapsed, and would have smacked her head on the door if Dean hadn't dropped his weapons, rushed forward and caught her. For almost a full minute, they stood there in shock, until Bobby finally shook himself out of it.

"It's completely impossible… this can't be…" he said, gesturing to the unconscious heap of girl in Dean's arms. Sam shook his head.

"But what if it is? Bobby, we gotta take the chance…" Sam argued. Dean needed no further prompting. If his brother even kind of believed this was Cas, that was good enough for him. Dean wanted to believe it was him. Hoped to God or whatever that it was. But there was no telling for sure until she woke up.

Dean set her down gently on the sofa under the window in the library, brushing hair off her face to get a better look. She was something, Dean had to admit. Despite the fact that she was dirty, beat up and looked like she hadn't slept in a week, she sure was pretty. She had an angular face, but not so angular that she looked like she should be posing crooked and upside down in a fashion magazine. There were soft edges to her face, smoothing out the planes and giving her a slightly innocent look. And she had a really nice body, Dean couldn't help but notice. She was well proportioned, with nice legs (even in her ruined jeans), a near perfect hour glass waist, evenly jutting hipbones, and a fantastic rack. Probably inappropriate for Dean to even be checking out her tits like this, but damn. Those were some of the nicest boobs he'd ever seen on a woman, and they were still covered in clothing. There was something about her hair too. Even though it was messed up and tangled and everywhere, it looked weirdly familiar. It was something about the color, but that's all Dean was able to put his finger on at the moment. Sam and Bobby had moved in to join him.

"You really think that little thing could be your angel?" Bobby asked. Dean shrugged, standing up from where he had been crouch by the sofa, and grabbing a chair.

"It's possible," Sam answered, "If Cas got out before the Leviathan took over, there's no reason he couldn't have found another vessel…"

"Let's… let's not get our hopes up." Dean finally said, speaking for the first time since she'd shown up. He dragged his chair to the side of the couch, settling himself by her head.

And there Dean sat. For the rest of the night. Sam brought him his food when it arrived; Bobby brought him water around midnight, gruffly complaining that he would dehydrate his idjit ass from sitting there all night, doing nothing. Sam passed out in his research chair in the corner of the room around 3am, an ancient biblical text on his face. Bobby had gone up to bed at one, citing exhaustion from the day's events and old age. Dean didn't move. He watched her all night, watched the steady rise and fall of her chest to indicate she was still breathing, watched the serenity on her face as she slept. He couldn't take his eyes off her. And the more he looked at her, the more beautiful she became to him. By 8 the next morning, when Sam grunted and shifted, causing the heavy old book to fall off his face onto his balls and wake him up good and proper, Dean was positive that she was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. He seriously hoped she wasn't a demon or something horrible like that.

"Have you even gone to take a piss all night?" Sam asked, coming to stand beside his brother. Dean sighed softly, turning to look him in the face.

"Nah. Thought she'd vanish on me if I left." He replied quietly. Sam shook his head, putting a hand on Dean's shoulder.

"Go. Take a leak and get some food or something. I'll keep an eye on her. If she starts to wake up, I'll yell for you." He said. Dean smiled tiredly at his younger brother, nodding and going off to do his business. He changed his clothes as well, for no other reason than they were still covered in blood and Leviathan goo from the day before. He grabbed some water, and made his way back to the library. Bobby was there was well, sitting behind his desk, talking quietly with Sam, both of them with their eyes on the mystery girl. Dean sat his ass back down in his chair, setting the untouched water on a table next to the one from last night and resumed his vigil. He heard Bobby sigh behind him, and could just imagine the bitchface Sam was shooting at his back. Dean knew he was being kind of ridiculous. They weren't 100% sure it was Castiel. Hell, this time yesterday, they were almost positive he was lost to them forever. But for whatever reason, Dean just couldn't leave her side. Not until they were sure.

Then, almost as if she heard what he was thinking, the girl began to stir. She groaned softly, and hand moving to rub at her forehead, while her eyes flickered a few times before they opened, first unfocused and glazed, until she blinked. Sam and Bobby were at Dean's side in an instant, weapons at the ready. Dean knew they were cursing inwardly that all the angel blades were either abandoned in the Purgatory warehouse, or in the panic room. The girl blinked a few more times with those startlingly familiar eyes, then turned to look at the hunters. She looked confused, and Dean was positive, had she been sitting up, she would have titled her head to the left just a tad, just like…

"Cas?" Dean asked quietly. She blinked slowly again, turning her gaze to Dean solely. She nodded.

"How?" Bobby demanded immediately. She sat up a little more, seeming to have much more strength that she did yesterday.

"I got out." She said, clearing her throat a little when her voice came out raspy and weak. Dean immediately passed her a glass of water, which she started at for a second before taking a drink.

"Got out of where?" Sam asked, a little nicer than Bobby had.

"My vessel. My old one. Jimmy. They took over, they were too strong, I couldn't hold on… I almost died getting out of there." She replied, voice much higher pitched than it was before, but still with a slight, familiar gravely undertone.

"Yes, and?" Sam pressed.

"And I found a new vessel, which only further weakened me. Then I 'mojoed' myself here, and passed out on your doorstep." She finished, staring at them like they were dumb. That was Cas, alright.

"New vessel? What did happen to the old one?" Bobby asked. The girl-who-was-probably-Cas-at-this-point shrugged.

"It probably disintegrated. Jimmy's soul had vacated it long ago, after the incident when I took his daughter as a vessel for a few minutes. There was nothing left in there but Leviathan and me. And I got out. Barely." She replied.

"So, who are you wearing now?" Sam asked. She screwed her face up in concentration for a moment, trying to remember.

"Jimmy's first cousin, I believe. Her name was Jessie. She's vacated the vessel now, though." She added.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Because she wanted to. Jessie was depressed. Her parents had recently died in a car accident, she had no other family. She was going to kill herself when I came to her. With my taking over, it was a way to guarantee she got off this earth and her soul went to Heaven. There is no greater honor than having an angel take over for a time. With her gone, it's just me in here." She said. The three hunters blinked a few times, so close to being convinced this might be Cas.

"Tell us something only Cas would know." Sam said, seeming to almost accept that this girl really was their lost friend.

"I called Michael an assbutt at our confrontation with him and Lucifer, in Stull Cemetery, to stop the apocalypse, and then I exploded. Again." She said.

"Cas?" Dean asked, again.

"Yes, Dean. It's me." She said, laying a hand on his left shoulder, on the brand Castiel left there when he pulled Dean out of hell. The print burned hot, the way it had the few other times Cas had put his hand there.

"Holy shit. We thought you were dead." Dean said, breathing a sigh of relief and leaning forward to hug him… her, quickly. Sam followed suit, and Bobby gave her a gruff yet affectionate pat on the back.

"I almost was, and I… am aware that I have much to atone for. Our last few meetings were not of the civil or amicable variety." She added, looking sheepish and embarrassed. Sam leaned over, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about any of that now. You put the souls back. You went down the right path in the end." He said, but she frowned at him.

"I have not yet righted what I did to the wall within your mind." She said absently, raising two delicate fingers and pressing them against Sam's forehead. He dropped to one knee, gasping, his eyes shut tightly. A few heavy breaths and a shake of his gargantuan head later, Sam stood up on shaky legs, no longer having the possessed, broken look in his eye that he'd had since attempting to stab Castiel in the back after he'd taken in the souls from Purgatory.

"The memories… the hallucinations… they're gone." Sam said, seeming totally amazed. Cas gave a small smile. Dean used all the self-control he possessed not to jump up, kiss Cas, and do a happy dance.

"I sincerely apologize for bringing it down in the first place… it appears I was wrong after all." She said, repentant. Sam shook his head.

"That's all over now, and besides, we have bigger problems on our hands. Those Leviathan, they got into the water supply, and we're pretty sure they're going to start possessing people. And we don't have a clue how to kill them." Sam said. Cas nodded, standing on slightly unsteady feet.

"We should get to… oh." She said, stumbling a tad before falling into Dean's arms, "It seems healing Sam has returned me to a weakened state." She said quietly, eyes not leaving Deans. Dean was pretty sure he was going to have a heart attack, having this warm, perfect woman pressed up against him the way she was. His heart was doing that thing it used to do whenever Cas up in his personal space, except 10 times as hard.

"You should rest. We can research what we're able to for now. Get cleaned up and change those clothes." Dean said, standing her up on her feet again. Cas kicked off the one shoe she had left, and moved to walk towards the stairs. Her left leg gave out, and Dean caught her again, "Lemme help." He said, wrapping an arm gingerly around her waist, and helping her up the stairs. Stealing a glance back at Sam and Bobby, they were both giving him a knowing look, eyes shifting from him, to Cas, to the arm he had around her. In retaliation, Dean childishly stuck his tongue out at them, and turned to focus on Castiel. He basically had to carry her up the stairs, and helped her sit down on the bed in what was usually considered 'Dean's Room' whenever he and Sam spent the night at Bobby's. He was pretty sure he had some clothes in the room as well.

"I am capable of selecting clothing for myself Dean." Cas said from behind him. Dean snorted.

"If it was up to you, you'd be wearing a trench coat before I could even blink. Here." He said, turning back around to hand Cas an ancient pair of flannel pajama pants he'd found in the back of the closet, and an AC/DC band shirt that had fit Dean when he was fifteen, and he'd only kept it because it was an AC/DC shirt, "Sam can take you shopping for clothes and whatever later." He added. Cas tilted her head to the side.

"Why won't you take me?" she asked. Dean shrugged.

"I can come too, I guess." He replied, ushering her towards the bathroom, "Bobby should have soap or something in there…" Dean added, feeling suddenly awkward. He was very aware of the fact that Cas was about to close that bathroom door and take off all her clothes.

"That would be… acceptable." Cas finally said, breaking Dean out of his dirty fantasy.

"Awesome. You can, um, just throw those clothes out here; they look ready for the trash." Dean mumbled awkwardly. Cas nodded seriously, then proceeded to take off her shirt. In the middle of the hallway. "Whoa, whoa!" Dean shouted, looking up towards the ceiling. No matter how badly he didn't want to, "You really shouldn't do that here." Dean said, glancing toward the stairs, hoping to hell that Sam or Bobby didn't come up here.

"Why?" Cas asked, pulling her shirt back down.

"You're a chick now. You can't just get naked in front of random guys." Dean said, feeling the heat rising up his neck.

"But you're not a random guy. I'm the one that griped you tight…"

"And raised me from perdition, yeah, yeah. Cas, the point is, you're a chick. You need to be… aware of your modesty. Take your clothes off in private?" he added, desperately pulling for straws. Slowly, Cas nodded, walking into the bathroom, and shutting the door behind her. Dean didn't hear the lock click, and forced himself to stomp back down the stairs instead of what he really wanted to do. Bobby and Sam were sitting in the kitchen, eyeing him suspiciously.

"You came back down? Damn, Bobby, I owe you a case of beer." Sam said, smacking a hand against the table. Dean scowled at his brother.

"Of course I came back down. What did you think I was going to do, get in the shower with Cas?" Dean grumbled, pouring himself a coffee and leaning against the counter. The looks Bobby and Sam were giving him said it all. "Shut up." Dean grumbled into his mug.

"You just left that idjit angel up there by herself? Does she even know how to turn a shower on?" Bobby asked. Dean shrugged.

"She is, like, 100 billion years old. I'm sure she can turn a shower on." Dean retorted, taking a seat at the table, and stealing a piece of bacon of Sam's place. Sam grunted at him, slapping Dean's arm. The Winchester's fought over food, and Bobby read some old book out of the basement for the better part of an hour, until they heard the sound of soft, bare feet padding across the floor, moving from the hall into the kitchen. Cas rounded the corner a moment later, clad in the clothes Dean had leant her. And Dean was pretty sure his jaw dropped a little.

They were just ratty old pajamas, but damn, Cas's new meat suit looked good in them. They were rolled up several times, so she wouldn't trip, and sat dangerously low on her hips, revealing for the first time, the part of a small tattoo on her left hipbone. And Dean didn't even want to think about how she looked in his AC/DC shirt. It clung to her in all the right places, showing off her curvy waist and damn near perfect breasts. It was a tad short on her, leaving a strip of skin bare. Dean doubted his clothes would ever have it that good again.

"Wow. We need to get her some of her own clothes." Bobby said, returning to his book. Sam pinched Dean, causing him to jump (and stop staring at Castiel's rack).

"Well, we got nothing right now. The Leviathan haven't popped up anywhere, and Bobby and I haven't found a bit of useful lore. Let's take her to get some clothes." Sam said, standing up and reaching for the Impala keys. Dean jumped up and got to them first.

"I'm driving." He said. Sam shrugged, and then glanced at Castiel's bare feet.

"They're not going to let her in anywhere with no shoes." He stated. After several minutes of searching, Dean managed to find an ancient pair of sneakers, which looked like they belonged to whoever owned the house before Bobby did. And they were still too big for Cas's new feet, but they were the best they had.

It wasn't until they arrived at a department store off the highway that Sam and Dean realized just how deep they were in it. They stood in the middle of the women's clothing department, surrounded by lacy underwear, with one very clueless, recently genderswapped angel at their side. Never in his life had Dean felt so awkward and uncomfortable around a bra.

"We are in over our heads." Sam grumbled, poking at a display of push-up bras.

"You had a girlfriend man, don't you know about this stuff?" Dean hissed back. Sam glared at him.

"That was almost 8 years ago. And Jess bought her own panties!" he retorted. Dean sighed.

"I think we need an expert…" he said, looking around the store for a sales person or something.

"Do you even know what size she wears?" Sam added, and Dean knew right away he was in bitching mode.

"Actually, yes. I checked before I threw out her clothes from yesterday." He snapped back. Sam looked surprised, then he looked downright evil.

"Went through her underwear, did you?" he mocked, and Dean hoped he wasn't blushing visibly.

"We had to know this stuff!" he protested, but the look in Sam's eye said he was never going to live this down.

"Sure Dean, sure. What color were her panties?" Sam teased.

"They were purple, but I fail to see how that matters." Castiel answered from Dean's other side. The brothers blanched for a second. Friggen' angels and their extra sensitive hearing.

"Hi there… you three looked like you might need a little help." Came the way too happy voice of a female sales associate. She looked to be in her early forties, and smiled kindly at Castiel, who just looked confused.

"Help would be fantastic. Here are her sizes, we'll be back in ten." Dean said in a rush, passing the sales woman a slip of paper, and then steering Sam the hell out of there. Dean didn't stop pushing his brother until they were in sporting goods.

"Do you think that was a good idea? Leaving Cas with a random stranger?" Sam asked, glancing worriedly back in the direction of women's apparel.

"You wanna go back and help Cas pick out bras? Be my guest." Dean replied, and Sam shuddered in response.

"Is it as weird to you as it is to me that he's a she now?" Sam inquired, as the brothers slowly made their way to the women's clothing. Might as well get Cas some jeans and shoes and stuff while they waited.

"Dude, it is beyond weird. I was so used to seeing him as that Holy Tax Accountant, and now…"

"She looks like a classy stripper?" Sam suggested, and Dean punched him.

"She's not a stripper." He grumbled, and Sam snorted.

"She's certainly built like the women you usually go after." He retorted, and Dean glared at him.

"Dude, that's Cas. Our friend, the angel." Dean protested, and Sam laughed at him.

"Please. Even when she was wearing Jimmy, you were so in love with him. Bobby and I had a bet going, on when you'd come out of the closet and just kiss the guy." Sam said, and this time, Dean knew he was blushing.

"Shut up Sam. It wasn't… it wasn't like that!" he argued. Sam just gave him the 'I know you're lying, and I have proof' bitch face.

"Dean. Seriously. If you two dropped one more hint that there was something more, I was going to start getting a separate motel room." He replied, pulling a pair of jeans off the rack that were hopefully Castiel's new size.

"Name two!" Dean demanded.

"When we stopped you from saying yes to Michael. You asked him to blow you. And then, when we locked you in the panic room, you told him the last person who looked at you like that, you got laid. The last person to look at you like that was Cas. Shall I go on?" Sam retorted, grabbing a shirt and giving Dean that look again. Dean wanted to smack it off his gigantic face.

"Shut up, Sammy." he grumbled, picking out a shirt at random in the correct size.

"I don't hear you denying it." Sam pointed out. Dean sighed.

"There… there wasn't anything more, but…" Dean trailed off, unable to answer further. How the hell are you supposed to admit to your brother that you were attracted to a guy?

"You wanted to fuck him. When he was a dude." Sam finished. Dean glared at him again.

"You don't have to put it like that." He grumbled. Sam shrugged.

"Dude, I don't care. The only times I ever see you happy is when he was around. Don't even lie to me, I know you cared about Lisa, but that was never going to work out, who were we kidding, and now, with Cas being a girl…"

"Why shouldn't I be hitting that, yeah, yeah. Because Sam, she's an angel! And I'm just the guy who accidently broke the first seal, got his assed hauled out of hell, and only ever called Cas when we needed him. What right do I have to even think about her that way?" Dean asked sadly, putting another pair of jeans in their effeminate shopping basket.

"Dean. We stopped the apocalypse with him. He raised you from hell. He put the souls back in Purgatory because he felt bad. He wanted you to back him up, on everything. The dude was as much in love with you as you won't admit you're in love with him." Sam responded. Dean was surprised. He didn't realize his big, dumb Gigantor of a brother paid such close attention to him and Cas.

"Sam… even if that is true, we shouldn't. It's… immoral. She's an angel!" Dean repeated. Sam simply shook his head at him.

"That is a weak excuse. She's your best friend. And you loved her as a guy. Which means you must REALLY love her, now that she looks the way she does." Sam said philosophically, and Dean had no response to that. Because he knew, deep down, that it was true.

"It's not even about the vessel." Dean finally said, after a few moments of silent browsing through lady sweaters, "I love him. Her. Whoever. I care about the Cas inside the vessel. The… wavelength of celestial intent that inhabits Jimmy, Jessie, or Tim! I don't really care what she looks like, as long as she's, well, Cas." He said, surprising even himself. He seemed to have surprised Sam as well, as his brother was staring at him like he was retarded or something.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my arrogant dick of an older brother?" he finally joked, and Dean threw a pink sweater in his face.

"Shut up. Bitch."

"Jerk."

"I see you have regressed back to your childish nick-names for each other. Does this mean we are finished?" came a female voice. The brothers turned to see Cas standing there, watching them pitch sweaters at each other, with an exploding basket in her hands.

"Shit Cas, how many bras' do you need?" Sam asked, and she shrugged.

"After I informed the helpful woman that I possessed no undergarments of my own, she insisted on 'stocking me up'." Cas replied, "And she deiced I needed a dress. Where are those?" she added. Sam and Dean exchanged a look, and then lead her to the dress isle. Cas, seemingly having learned the art of browsing through rack in the underwear department, immediately moved to the size that Dean told her she should be, and pulled a white dress off the rack. She walked to the fitting rooms, and the brothers had no other option than to follow her. She vanished into the little room, and Dean tried to keep his thoughts clean as he saw his flannel pants hit the floor, followed by his shirt. Fabric rustled a bit, then the lock clicked back open, and Dean felt his heart stutter.

"Wow Cas. That's… really pretty." Sam said, trying to cover the fact that his brother was having heart palpitations at the sight of the angel. It was a summer dress, with thin little white straps, and a low neckline, showing off Cas's new… features. It hugged her new body tight to just above her hips, where it then flared out to just above her knees. And it made her look, like, well, and Angel of the Lord. It was a crisp, clean white that almost shone, and gave her skin an almost unearthly glow.

"I like it. Can I get it?" she asked, looking up at Dean with those familiar, beautiful blue eyes.

"Yeah Cas. 'Course you can get it." He replied. She smiled radiantly at him, and closed the door again, opening it half a second later, redressed in Dean's old clothes. Angel mojo. She added the dress to her already exploding basket, and followed the brothers to the checkout. Sam abandoned them at this point, going to geek out at electronics while Dean stood in line with Cas.

"You're staring." Castiel said bluntly, after a few minutes of silence. Dean shook himself out of his thoughts, looking up from the top of the tattoo he'd been scrutinizing. He still couldn't figure out what it was.

"Sorry. I'm just not used to seeing you… like this." He said, gesturing to her body. Cas shrugged, doing spectacular things to her breasts.

"The novelty of it all should wear off soon, and I should be back to full strength in a few days. We can address the Leviathan problem then, as well as resuming your usual hunting efforts." She replied. Dean nodded.

"So, you're powered down?" he asked, genuinely curious. Cas shrugged.

"I spent the vast majority of my power escaping from the Leviathan, and then the rest of it taking this vessel. I almost killed myself getting from Jessie's home in Texas to Bobby's. I regained some power after resting, but I spent it correcting my wrong with Sam. I'm running on… reserve energy. And I need to get used to this vessel. And I must say, I do not see the point of women having such large mammary glands. They get in the way and seem useless for suckling children." She added, poking at one of her breasts. Dean reached over, moving her hand away, trying desperately to wipe the highly inappropriate images out of his mind.

"Don't do that in public, Cas. Or in front of people. Ever." He said. She tilted her head at him, and he knew what was coming next.

"Why?" Dean sighed.

"Same reason you can't just take your clothes off anywhere. Modesty. And you're a chick." He replied. Cas nodded. She seemed to have a better grip on what it meant to be a woman after her adventures in the lingerie department. And lingerie it was. Sure, there were some comfortable looking, plain pairs of underwear and bras, but 2/3 of what was in the basket was sheer, lacey, various shades of electric pink and blue, and all made Little Dean much more excited than he should be in the middle of some department store in South Dakota. Dean quickly threw the clothes and shoes he and Sam hand picked out (and Cas approved of) on top of the underwear, and tried to look anywhere but at the beautiful woman he was standing next to. The spotty teenager at the checkout gave them a weird look, ringing through over $300 worth of women's clothing. Dean passed her one of his fake credit cards without even blinking, and she sighed.

"I wish my boyfriend was this good to me." She said offhandedly. Dean almost choked on his own salvia, and Cas looked confused.

"Why does everyone continue to refer to Dean as my boyfriend?" she asked no one in particular. The checkout girl looked confused, and Dean tried not to hyperventilate at the thought. Sam chose this moment to rematerialize, and one look at the panic in his brother's eye told him everything he needed to know.

"Come on. Time to go home." He said, taking the card back, collecting the five bags of clothing, and leading a still confused Cas and partially paralyzed Dean from the store.

"I still don't understand." Cas stated from the backseat of the Impala, as they made their way back to Bobby's. Sam sighed.

"People think Dean's your boyfriend because he's good looking, your good looking (not to mention wearing his old clothes), and he's buying you stuff. People just make the assumption. And Dean's having a panic attack because he has commitment problems." Sam added. This broke Dean out of his 'if Cas was really my girlfriend, this is what we'd be doing' fantasy, and smacked Sam on the head.

"Do not." He grumbled, and Sam just laughed at him.

"Maybe not." Sam admitted, eyes flicking from his brother to the angel in the back seat. They drove the rest of the way back in silence, Dean carrying all the bags into the house when they returned to Bobby's.

"What, did you buy the angel half the store? She only ever wears one thing!" he said. Sam shrugged.

"Now she doesn't." he replied simply, taking off into the library to the comfort of his laptop. Dean led Castiel upstairs, depositing the bags on the bed and turning to the angel.

"Your staring persists." She says mildly. Dean sighs, and sits down on the edge of the bed.

"Sorry if it bothers you." He replied. Cas shook her head.

"It doesn't, you just seem to watch this vessel more often than you did the previous one. I can only assume it is due to your sexual preferences towards women." She replied. Dean snorted.

"You could say that." He replied, glancing at the bags of clothing, "You should try some of that stuff on. Make sure you like it. You do have to wear it, after all." He added offhandedly. Castiel nodded, looking expectantly at the bag of clothing. In the next second, Dean's old pajamas and shirt were on the floor, as Cas was clad in a pair of black, skin tight jeans Dean had picked out for her, a red tank top that Sam had grabbed, and a pair of heeled boots that Dean though would make her ass look good. He was right. However, Dean grew concerned when he noticed Cas flinch.

"That… was a bad idea." She said, taking a seat on the bed next to Dean, her head in her hands. Unable to help himself, Dean wrapped and arm around her, drawing her in closer to his side.

"What? Cas, talk to me." Dean said anxiously. Cas shook her head a few times, blinking slowly before looking back up at Dean.

"Using my… 'mojo' to change clothes. I was… unaware I lacked the strength for it. It may take more time for me to recover than I initially thought." She replied, massaging her right temple.

"But, you did it at the store. What's the difference now?" Dean asked, really starting to worry. Castiel sighed.

"I was fine at the clothing store. I assumed I would be fine here as well. I was wrong, apparently." She replied.

"Well, how long do you think it'll be until your back to normal?" Deana asked. Cas shrugged against him.

"I'm not even sure if I will ever return to 100% strength. What I did yesterday drained me almost completely, not to mention everything I did involving the Purgatory souls. And Heaven is currently under the impression I'm dead. I'm hoping I'll end up like Balthazar, and still retain all my power, but there is a small possibility I could get cut off completely." She replied. Dean squeezed her in a little closer, resting his chin on top of her head.

"You'll be fine. We'll get through this, just like we always have." He mumbled into her soft, dark hair, "You should change into something more practical. If you're going to be powered down for a week or more, we should get you more comfortable around a gun. Shooting practice starts in 10." He added, pulling away to grin at her. Cas smiled back at him, and moved to sort through her exploding bags of clothing.

Dean made his way downstairs, summoning Sam to him as he went. Together, the brothers went outside and set up a make-shift shooting range in a far corner of the auto lot. Dean brought the Impala around, and they set to work sorting through weapons, trying to decide what they should give Cas to use first. They both could recall quite easily Cas's issues with guns while on the hunt for Eve in Oregon. In the end, they just pulled one of everything, figuring there had to be something she could use.

Just as Sam was setting up the last of the beer can targets, Cas came into view, appearing out from behind one of the beat up old cars, looking, in Dean's highly biased opinion, like the most beautiful thing on earth. She was wear a much looser pair of jeans that Sam had picked out, and a flannel shirt both boys had spotted, Sam making the joke that now they could all match. And she'd lost the sexy boots in favor of a comfy looking pair of sneakers that Sam had found. The strap of her bra was just visible, so it was assumed that she had managed to even get some underwear on. Dean was slightly saddened that the mysterious tattoo was no longer visible. He was dying to know what it was of, not that he'd admit it with Sam or Bobby in hearing range.

"Is this attire suitable for shooting things?" Cas asked, gesturing to her clothing choices. Sam smiled at her, the way a parent smiles at their child when they accomplish something.

"It's fine Cas. Now, this is…" Sam started, and didn't stop talking for the better apart of half an hour. Cas looked at him with rapt attention, while Dean alternated between sighing loudly, staring off into space, and staring at Castiel. He almost missed the end of Sam's pointless rant, when he finally handed Cas a gun. She eyed the simple hand gun critically for a second, turned to face the shooting range, aimed, and fired. She hit a can dead center, sending it flying into a truck windshield. The force and accuracy of the shot was enough to crack the glass of the windshield. The brothers looked at Cas in shock.

"I thought you didn't know how to use a gun!" Dean exclaimed. Castiel shrugged.

"I do possess apt knowledge on everything. Additional explanation from Sam was helpful. And I have shot a gun off once before. When we raided that pharmaceutical warehouse, to stop the spread of the Croatoan virus." She replied, turning back to the shooting range, and emptying the clip, hitting a can with every shot. She had deadly accuracy. Friggen' angels.

"Well… at least we know you can handle yourself on a hunt without your mojo." Dean finally said, watching as Cas curiously removed the clip, inspecting the empty spaces where the rounds had once been. It would have been the picture of curious, childish innocence, if she hadn't been playing with one of Dean's old guns. And for whatever reason, this was turning Dean the hell on.

"Here, try… this one." Sam said, handing her another one of the guns he'd droned on endlessly about earlier. It was bigger, and had more of a kick to it when it went off. She adjusted for the recoil instinctively, firing off all the rounds with ease, taking out more of the carefully organized beer cans.

"These targets are too easy." She started, eyeing the gun with what almost looked like distaste.

"Never thought I'd hear Cas say that." Dean finally said, handing her one of his spare guns. It was similar to his own, but without the custom engraving and white detailing. Sam was reshuffling the targets.

"You're giving her one of your guns?" Sam asked in disbelief when he can back over. Dean scowled at him.

"She needs a gun, I had a spare. End of story." He retorted. Sam gave him a look, while Cas eyed her new firearm, put the clip in, took off the safety, and emptied the entire thing in less than ten seconds, hitting the ten hardest targets Sam had set up for her. The brothers were dumbstruck.

"Seems like your angel is even more talented that ya idjits thought." Bobby said from behind them. The Winchesters and Castiel turned to see Bobby giving Cas an approving look.

"Apparently." Dean replied.

Hours later, after more target practice, dinner, research, more research, a beer break, and more research, everyone was tired. Even Cas, who normally didn't have to sleep. They chocked it up to her almost dying the day before, and sent her up to bed. Dean took the couch, after excessive teasing on Sam's part about just sharing a room with 'his' angel, and tried to sleep. But it was hard. More specifically, he was hard, thinking about her in the room right above him, stripping off most of her clothes, and putting on the pair of extremely sexy silk pajamas that Dean will deny putting in the shopping basket for the rest of his life.

After lying there for the better part of two hours, Dean officially gave up on the idea that he was getting any sleep tonight, grabbed a beer, and headed outside. He parked his ass on the hood of the Impala, and took a swing. The sky was nice, he guessed, if you were into that girly, star-gazing shit. Dean sighed, running a hand through his hair. He couldn't keep his mind off her. Castiel. It was bad enough, a year ago, when she was a dude and wouldn't stay out of Dean's thoughts (and fantasies, though Dean tried not to think about his sex dreams staring a very male Castiel). Now, she was a smoking hot chick, with the mind of his best friend, and skills with a gun that rivaled his own. She was, quite literally, the girl of his dreams. Angel of his dreams. Cas was everything he wanted, and it was a damn shame it took him almost losing the angel for good for him to realize it. These feelings weren't coming out of nowhere. As weirded out as he was admitting it, he'd loved Cas for a long time. Honestly, he'd started falling for the guy when he'd yanked the demon-killing knife out of his heart like it was nothing. It was probably love the time he woke up to find Cas sitting on the edge of his bed, blue eyes watching him intently. Dean remembered repressing the feeling that he'd like to always wake up with Cas next to him in bed. Not that Dean would admit that to himself. Hell, he'd only said out loud that he was in love with Cas yesterday.

"Dean?" he heard a soft voice call, pulling him out of his chick-flick worthy inner monologue. Dean looked around wildly for a second, until he spotted something on the roof of Bobby's house out of the corner of his eye. There, sitting outside a two story window on the rickety tin roof of Bobby's house, was Cas. She (sadly) was not wearing the pajamas Dean did not pick out for her, but was back in Dean's old clothes.

"Cas? What the hell are you doing on the roof?" Dean asked, and she shrugged at him.

"I couldn't sleep." She replied. Dean sighed.

"I'll be right up. Get back inside; I don't trust Bobby's architectural integrity." He finally said, turning and heading into the house. He ignored the way his hand shook as he dumped most of a perfectly good beer down the sink, "You can do this. You are Dean Winchester," he muttered to himself, "And that's your best friend up there. Your best friend… who almost died… and then came back a hot chick… I'm so screwed." He added, as he quietly ascended the stairwell. The absolute last thing he needed was Sam waking up and catching him 'sneaking' into Cas's room at one in the morning. He paused at the door. He was being ridiculous. What the hell was he nervous about? He turned the doorknob, and slowly eased the door open.

Cas was sitting in the middle of the bed, her bright blue eyes watching Dean's every move. Seeing her there, hair lightly messed up (from tossing and turning, no doubt), made Dean envy clothing for the first time in his life. He wished he could be as close to Cas as his old shirt was. Instead of crawling on the bed to snuggle (yes, God forbid, Dean Winchester just thought about snuggling) with Castiel like he wanted to, Dean stood awkwardly in front of the closed door of his old room.

"You came." Cas said, sounding mildly surprised. If his… her usual monotone could sound surprised.

"Yeah. Friends, remember?" he replied, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. Cas shuffled over to sit next to him.

"Friends… I recall you once saying I was like a brother to you." She replied, and Dean nodded.

"You're family, Cas. Even after everything. Family is family." Dean said, and Cas smiled at him.

"It's good to know I have family somewhere. So far as I can tell, Heaven is most certainly under the impression I died with my original vessel. And with my recent… face-lift, it seems safe to say I will be flying under their radar for the time being. Though, my powers seem to slowly be returning in their entirety." She said, and Dean smiled.

"No Halo Patrol on our asses every hour of the day… that could work." He joked, and Cas breathed a laugh.

"Yes, I suppose it could." She replied, and they fell into slightly awkward silence. A silence that persisted until Cas yawned, and Dean chuckled softly.

"Come on, angel. Let's recharge those mojo batteries." Dean said, standing up and pulling the covers back. Cas crawled under them, but before Dean could cover her completely, she grabbed his arm.

"Stay with me?" she asked softly. Dean was going to stay anyway, but an open invitation to get under the covers with her? He didn't need asking twice. Dean slid under the covers next to her on the relatively small bed. She snuggled up into his embrace easily, like she was meant to fit there, and her breasts pressed up against his chest. This excited Little Dean, but Big Dean shot him down, not wanting to screw this up. He pulled her in as close as he could without smothering her, and sighed. This, he could get used to.

Dean came to slowly the next morning, not totally sure where he was and what he was doing. He was aware he was in a bed. And it smelled relatively clean. Which meant he was probably at Bobby's. And he was sleeping next to something warm… it was either a drooled on pillow, or he brought a girl back. Which he normally didn't do when he was saying ta Bobby's…

Then it all came rushing back to Dean, and his eyes snapped open, and he looked right into the sleeping face of Castiel. Female Castiel. Cas, back from the dead, wearing a smoking hot chick who was handy with a gun. Who had also asked him to stay with her. He sincerely hoped it was because she wanted him there, as opposed to just a warm body close so she could sleep.

For a rather extended period of time, Dean was content to just lie there, watching her sleep. It was obvious her full angel powers weren't back yet, since angels don't sleep. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Dean feared that they might not come back at all. But, she'd been demonstrating power to some extent yesterday, so he hoped that she at least regained most of it. Her demon-smitey-thing came in real handy some days. But, for the next five minutes, he wasn't going to think about that. He wasn't going to think about any of the crazy problems they had to deal with in the near future, he was going to watch his angel sleep, like, well, an angel.

And all would have been fine and dandy and all that shit, if not for Sam. That freaking moose was making one hell of a noise downstairs, a noise that carried the entire way up the stairs, until he banged the bedroom door open, and Dean and Cas sat up with a start.

"CAS! Dean, he's not on the couch, I dunno where the hell… Oh. Ooooohhh. Sorry." Sam said, looking like a little shit as he smirked and closed the door. Dean wanted to kick him in the shins with steel toed boots. Cas looked confused.

"Why is he under the impression we had sexual relations?" Cas asked point blank. Dean sighed. At least her mind-reading shtick had come back.

"You know what you're going to do today? You're going to watch TV. All day. No stopping. Learn about what chicks are supposed to do. Because Sam, Bobby and me, we are the shittiest teachers on that ever." He replied, and with great will power on Dean's part, he climbed out of the warm bed, and went riffling through the closet. He had pants in the back somewhere.

"You still have not answered my question." Cas said, getting out of bed as well, and pulling clothes out of the closet. Dean sighed, feeling nine kinds of awkward.

"Because we were sleeping in the same bed." He finally said. Cas tilted her head at him.

"And that implies sex?" Cas clarifies, and Dean nodded, "But we didn't partake in any sexual activities." She added. Dean sighed.

"Sam probably knows that. But he's going to be a bitch about it anyway." Dean replied, taking his clothing selections and heading to the bathroom to change, "You, park that ass on the couch, watch TV." He added, turning back to point at Castiel. She nodded solemnly, like he'd just asked her to take on a demon battalion.

When Dean made his way downstairs 10 minutes later, he pointedly ignored the looks Sam was giving him, grabbed a coffee, and set to work. There was no job immediately concerning them, and the Leviathan had yet to make themselves known. So, today was all about research. Dean and Bobby combed through half of the latter's collection of ancient biblical texts, Sam was glued to his laptop, and Cas was watching TV. She didn't move all day, hardly even blinked. She flipped aimlessly through channels, but none of the men paid particular attention to what exactly the angel was watching. Dean had suggested some of the more 'female-oriented' channels, but Cas was watching all of them. Once, Dean glanced up and thought he saw strippers dancing on a bar, but when he looked back half a second later, it was a show about not wearing ugly pants or something. He must have just been fantasizing.

At 11, Dean was fed up.

"That's it! I'm going to the bar. Sam?" he said, standing up and very nearly throwing the book he wasn't really reading across the room. Sam sighed, closing his laptop.

"I gotta agree. Bobby, we've been at this literally all day. We've got nothing." Sam said, standing up.

"What about the angel?" Bobby asked, turning to look at Castiel. She was still watching TV, "You ain't leaving her here."

"We can't take an angel to the bar!" Dean exclaimed. Sam snorted.

"You took Cas to a hooker house, what the hell's the difference?" Sam asked.

"The difference is, now she's a hot chick. Who's gonna watch her all night?"

"Dean. She's an angel. She can barely feel alcohol, and will probably be able to beat the shit out of anyone who tries anything. It'll be fine." Sam persisted. Dean glared at him, then turned to Cas.

"If we're taking you, you need to change. My old sweats and shirt are not going to cut it." Dean said. She turned to look at him, blinked a few times, then headed up the stairs. Ten minutes later, the sound of heels clicking on the beat up hardwood of Bobby's floor could be heard, and Cas came back into view. Dean was sincerely glad he wasn't drinking anything, because he was certain he would have spit it back out.

She was wearing the leather, knee-high boots that Dean loved, with a pair of jeans that Sam had picked out. They looked beat up and worn, like she'd had them for years. They sat low on her hips, displaying once again, a portion of that tattoo Dean was growing way too fond of. For a shirt, she was wearing a black tank top that Dean had grabbed, and he was sincerely glad he had. It hugged her new body perfectly, showing off a strip of skin just below her belly button, and was cut dangerously low. The straps of her bra were bright pink, and made her already fantastic tits look even better. She stared at Dean, who was obviously staring at her.

"Is this more appropriate attire to assist with hustling pool in?" she asked, and Sam snorted.

"Since when do you know how to hustle pool?" he asked, leading the way out to the car.

"The television informed me how to play." She replied, sliding into the back seat of the Impala. Dean laughed.

"I'll make you a deal. You beat Sam at pool, fair and square, at the bar; I'll let you hustle some poor sucker." Dean said. Cas nodded slowly, tilting her head to the side.

"But the television instructed that women should dance on the bar top, not hustle pool." Cas said, completely serious. Dean gaged, and Sam started laughing.

"Do you even know how to dance on the bar?" Sam asked between snorts of laughter.

"Yes." She said, still serious.

"You know what, if you get up on the bar, and dance not like an angel-robot, I'll give you your first twenty." Sam replied. Dean was trying not to pass out at the images he'd managed to conjure up in his head.

Dean managed to calm himself down by the time they reached a seedy looking bar one town over. Sam went over to the pool tables, while Dean took Cas up to the bar. She was getting a lot of attention, most of it unwanted. Not that Cas would even notice. She was busy watching a really drunk girl dance sloppily up on the bar across from them. She frowned.

"She's doing it wrong." Cas stated. Dean snorted as he collected three beers, handing one off to the angel.

"She's so drunk, she probably doesn't even remember her own name." Dean replied, as they reached the pool tables and he handled the other beer off to Sam.

"Here you go Cas. Show me what you got." Sam said, giving the angel a cue stick. She, surprisingly, chalked it to her liking, and looked expectantly at Sam.

"Are you going to break, or shall I?" she asked, surprising both brothers with her knowledge of pool lingo. Cas didn't even know normal, everyday slang. Sam shook his head, leaned over the table, and broke. Fifteen minutes later, Castiel had sufficiently wiped the table with Sam's ass. She beat him by almost every ball on the table. Sam only got two shots in, right after he broke. The brothers were stunned.

"She… actually beat you." Dean said, dumbstruck. Sam was speechless.

"This game is much easier in practice that the 'professionals' made it look on television." Cas said mildly, putting back her cue. If there was attention on her earlier, there was ten times as much of it on her now. The way those boots made her ass look was probably adding to the appeal, "Can we get more beer? I still feel nothing." She added, turning expectantly towards Dean.

"Shots!" Dean said, turning towards the bartender. Cas put back 6 shots (3 tequila, a bottle cap, a porn star, and some fruity thing the bartender suggested to her) without even blinking, and Dean chuckled. The mooks around them were under the impression that the hot chick who was good at pool was now stone drunk.

"Sammy, wanna go set her up?" Dean asked, turning to his brother. Sam laughed.

"Yeah. Come on Cas. Time to make some food money." He said, leading the angel away to the tables. Dean stayed at the bar, keeping a close eye on Castiel, while she and Sam hustled about five different guys out of every penny they had on them. It was hilarious. When they came back over, Sam was counting up the money.

"How much we get?" Dean asked, passing his brother a beer.

"You mean how much did Cas make us? Over a thousand bucks." Sam said, and Dean whistled.

"That's the most we've made in a long time." He commented. Sam snorted.

"I think it mostly had to do with Cas being hot, and them thinking she was drunk. The whole bar watched her do 6 shots like they were water." Sam replied, and Dean shrugged.

"Food money is food money." Dean replied, passing Cas a beer. It was late, the bar was packed, and there were a few really drunk girls attempting a Coyote Ugly on the bar top. Cas was eyeing them with distaste.

"They still can't do it properly." She stated. Dean snorted.

"If you can do a better Coyote Ugly, show those bitches up." He replied sarcastically. He was in no way, shape, or form expecting Castiel to hand Dean her beer, get up on the bar, and request an AC/DC song. And not just any AC/DC song. You Shook Me All Night Long.

Dean was even less expecting Cas to be good at it. Her boots made an attention grabbing click on the bar, and she was swinging her hips like a porn star. And then she started to dance. She looked like the dancers straight out of the movie, taking shots off the bar and everything, turning with expert accuracy, and when she eased down, legs spread, accepting her first twenty dollar bill from a laughing Sam (just like he promised), Dean thought his dick was going to explode out of his pants. For the whole AC/DC song, as well as the entire, highly ironic, Devil Went Down To Georgia, Cas stomped across the bar tops, kicking her legs up, pouring booze into random trucker's mouths, slapping her ankles and running her hands all over that perfect body. She even slid across the bar tops. You would never know she was a warrior Angel of the Lord, had you seen her now. When she finally sucked all the men at the bar dry, she returned to the Winchester's, hoping off the bar all on her own, and turning expectantly to Dean.

"Was that up to your expectations?" she asked, brandishing what looked like at least another thousand bucks in his face. Sam was pissing himself laughing.

"Oh, Cas, what the hell were you watching on TV today?" the younger Winchester asked.

"A film by the name of Coyote Ugly. The dance moves were easy enough to pick up on." She replied, handing the wad of cash to Sam, who then added it to the already massive wad of cash in his wallet.

"Angel's a fast learner." Sam joked, winking at his brother. Dean shook his head, then glanced around the bar. Most of the men had seen Cas hand the cash over to Sam, and were starting to realize they'd just been unintentionally conned. Time to leave, then…

"Hey, guys, we gotta go." Dean said, standing up.

"Why? Cas needs to hustle us some more pool." Sam started to say, but then he noticed what Dean was noticing.

"Next time, Sammy boy." He said, ushering Cas out of there. They booked it to the Impala, since it looked like one particularly big, ugly biker was going to follow them. Dean ripped out of the parking lot, and they hit the open road, headed back to Bobby's.

"So, is it safe to assume your angel powers are coming back?" Sam asked, after several minutes of driving in silence. Cas looked up at him in the rearview from the back seat.

"Some of my lesser powers have returned to an extent. My ability to comprehend thoughts, and learn things immediately after seeing them are in full effect. And I am inclined to believe I will be able to travel in my usual manner tomorrow or the day after. Time travel… I am unsure if I will ever regain the amount of Grace necessary for that again. However, the vast majority of my powers, the simple ones, should be back in two days at least. Already if feel I may be able to move things telekinetically again, and I should be invulnerable to stabbing and gunfire. Not that I'm inclined for us to test that." She replied. Dean nodded and smiled.

"Good. It'll be nice to have the old Cas back. We missed ya." He said, and Cas smiled radiantly at him from the back seat. Sam cleared his throat loudly, and Dean pointedly ignored his brother. They drove in silence, except for when Sam put in an AC/DC tape, and, naturally, it started right during the chorus of 'You Shook Me All Night Long'. Sam started laughing, and Cas looked vaguely like she wanted to start dancing again. This, despite how very uncomfortable the whole ordeal made him, made Dean laugh as well.

"Bobby is not going to believe how much money we raked in tonight. Or how we got it." Sam said, and Dean chuckled.

"And here, I thought taking Cas to the bar was a bad idea. From now on, Cas is always coming to the bar." Dean replied.

"Wonder how much we could get if she showed her wings off?" Sam joked, and Dean smacked him.

"There is a line when it comes to exploiting the angel." He said, causing both of them to laugh. And an unfamiliar, higher pitched laughter joined them. If Dean hadn't seen it in the rearview, he never would have believed Castiel was actually laughing.

"What is that new skin doing to you Cas?" Sam asked as they pulled into Bobby's driveway. Castiel shrugged.

"Despite the absence of Jessie's soul from this vessel, the hormones are still functional, and I seem to retain a copy of Jessie's memories. For some reason, I found that statement entertaining." She replied, seeming confused at her own actions. The brothers exchanged panicked looks. There was no way in hell they were explaining female hormones (because they knew so much about that to begin with) to Castiel. That was not happening.

"We should buy her Cosmo or something." Dean said, and Sam nodded vigorously in response.

"Next gas station pit stop." He replied.

"Well, congrats, that's going to be sooner than later." Bobby said from behind them. The trio turned to see the older man leaning in the doorway, "Call just came in. Looks like we got something in Bryceland, Louisiana. Little town, barely over 100 people. Three dead in the last two weeks. Get your idjit asses out of here tomorrow." He added. The boys nodded, and headed into the house. Dean parked his ass on the couch, and everyone else went to their respective rooms. Despite the fact that Dean really, really wanted to sleep where he had the night before, he stayed on the couch. He even slept for a while. Until light footsteps woke him out of his even lighter slumber. Years of hunting did not merit the luxury of heavy sleeping. Dean watched though half closed lids as the intruder came into the living room. Then, he recognized her.

"Cas? What are you doing down here?" he asked, sitting up on the couch. The angel paused in the entryway, looking timid and vulnerable. Expressions Dean had rarely, if ever, seen on Castiel's face before. She was wearing a night dress Sam had selected without Dean's knowledge. It was scary short, less than halfway down her thighs, with thin straps and a low neckline. And it was pink.

"I found that I was… unable to sleep. Despite that fact that I seem to still require it. I… missed your presence." She said quietly. Dean smiled softly at her. And against all better judgment and morality, Dean asked her…  
"Come here." He said, gesturing to the three inches of free couch space next to him. Cas tip-toed over, perching on the very edge of the sofa, next to Dean's knees. Dean sat up, wrapped his arms around her, and tugged her on top of his chest. He really shouldn't, but he couldn't help himself, "Better?" he asked, once he had Cas laying on top of him. They were face to face, her body flush with his. She crossed her arms on his chest, resting her chin on her joined fingers.

"I find this much more comforting. However, my legs are cold." She said. Before Dean could do anything, Cas glanced at a blanket folded on a chair across the room, and suddenly, it was on top of the both of them, wrapping them in a warm cocoon of wool and mothballs.

"Good to see that angel mojo in action again." Dean said, his voice much lower than before. Cas smiled at him.

"It is comforting to know that I am returning to normal. Or, as close to normal as I can get at this point." She replied softly. Dean sighed, running his fingers along her cheek bone.

"There's nothing wrong with you Cas. The fact that you're back, that I thought you were gone but you came back to me, it's everything and more." Dean said, surprised at his own openness. Cas cocked her head to the side slightly.

"I was unaware you held such affection for me." She said quietly. Dean blushed in the dark.

"I… I don't even know how to say this. It's not like it's something I say often. Hell, it's not something I've even felt before. Cas, I care about you. I've always cared about you. And, when I thought I lost you, I finally realized how much you meant to me. I… like you." Dean finished lamely. For such a strong beginning, he really knew how to give a pitiful ending to a speech like that. Cas looked only mildly confused, which Dean thought was unusual.

"I like you as well Dean. I thought that was established." She replied.

"No, Cas, I… really like you. I think… I think I might even love you." Dean said. Cas blinked three times in surprise.

"…You do?" she asked, seemingly surprised. But yet, she also sounded almost… hopeful.

"Yeah Cas. I think I really do. And it's not even because of the vessel. I… I'm pretty sure I was in love with you when you were wearing Jimmy. It's not… it's not about what you look like. It's about you. The Cas that inhabits the vessel. You're my best friend, and when I thought I lost you, Cas, I've never been so broken in my life. And my biggest regret, more than anything, I wished I had told you how I really felt." Dean replied. Cas's expression softened, and she looked at Dean with a fondness he wasn't used to seeing in the angel's expression. Regardless of the vessel she was inhabiting.

"I love you too, Dean. Loved you from the moment I pulled your soul out of hell. I'd never seen a soul like yours, so pure, such brightness. It had no place in that nightmare of a place. And when I put you back together… I'd never seen a more beautiful man, more beautiful person, in my whole existence. And I have existed for a long, long time." Cas said, "I never said anything because I assumed the feeling was not returned. I was always aware you preferred women. I naturally assumed you would have no interest in me when if I was inhabiting a male body." She added, looking slightly downcast. Dean put a hand to her face.

"Cas. It was never about the vessel. I'll admit, at first, it was hard for me to accept that I… had feelings for a dude angel. But then I realized. It wasn't about the vessel. It's about you. It's always been about you." Dean replied softly. He watched her face carefully for a moment, then he leaned up to kiss her.

Kissing Castiel was everything and more Dean had ever imagined it to be. She tasted like… sunshine and clean. And a little bit like the booze from earlier that evening. Her body felt fantastic pressed full along his own, and she had tentatively threaded her fingers in his hair. Dean had one arm wrapped around her soft, curvy waist, and the other sitting lightly on her left cheek.

The kiss started off slow, tentative. Dean was fully aware this was the second kiss Cas had ever had in her existence, and her first in this body. Dean didn't like to think about her kiss with Meg. It freaked him out, and he was disgusted by it at the time. He still retched at the thought of his angel swapping spit with that hell bitch.

Wrapped up in those slightly depressing thoughts, Dean almost missed the moment when Cas's tongue, warm and supple, ghosted across his bottom lip. His mouth fell open immediately, and he was genuinely surprised at her skill. Dean blamed it on the pizza-man.

They lay there, on Bobby's lumpy old couch, wrapped in a blanket that was probably older than Dean, kissing until they were both out of breath. Cas rested her forehead against Dean's when it was over, sleepiness overcoming her expression. She smiled tiredly at the hunter.

"I'm glad we figured that out." She whispered breathlessly. Dean laughed softly.

"Me too, Cas. I'm just pissed it took me so long to come to my senses." He replied. Cas kissed him quickly for his efforts.

"Don't worry about that now. Not after everything." She said, before kissing him one last time, laying her head down on his chest, and closing her eyes. A few minutes later, the angel had drifted off to sleep. Dean smiled at her, wrapping his arms around her waist a little tighter, and fell asleep a few minutes after she did.

"How does a place like this even exist? I did not seriously know it was possible for a town to be this much of a Bumfuck." Dean ranted as they drove around the town for the third time. It was three days after the Revelation On The Couch (as Sam had taken to calling it. He had most definitely found them the next morning, snuggled under Bobby's old blanket, and he hadn't let Dean forget it), and 'Team Free Will' had just arrived in the speck of a town people called Bryceland, Louisiana. It was obvious the town was in an uproar about the recent deaths. Another person had bit it during the three day drive down from Bobby's. Angel transport had been out of the question at the time, seeing as Dean wouldn't even entertain the idea of Cas trying it alone, let alone with passengers. Sam had made fun of him for this. Dean had kicked him in the balls.

"I checked out some of the local history on the place. Online archives say that one of the founding families of the town, back in 1864, was murdered in their home the night before the big celebration recognizing this place as an actual town, as opposed to the big fat nothing it was before." Sam rattled off from the passenger seat, "Wait, there is one event going on. The annual Art and Antique Show, over at the town hall. Maybe we got a haunted painting?" Sam added. Dean shrugged in response.

"We got nothing else to go off of. Let's check it out." He replied, taking a left and heading back to the building labeled 'town hall' that they'd passed twice already. Cas had been relatively quiet for most of the car ride, engrossed in the three magazines Dean had gotten for her at the first gas station they arrived at. Relationship or no relationship, he still wasn't explaining female hormones and sex to his angel.

They arrived at the ancient town hall a few minutes later, and entered the 'show room'. If you could even call it that. It was a bunch of tables that looked as old as the town hall, with ancient (and fairly ugly) old antiques and paintings set up all along them. Cas was giving all of them the 'angel stare', which the brothers had come to associate with her ability to sense what was supernatural and what wasn't. Dean had managed to get her to completely adopt the habit of changing clothes, so she was wearing a rather eye-catching ensemble, consisting of a pair of distressed, skin tight jeans, little black flat shoes, and a body-hugging strapless blouse with a wide belt at her waist. And it was catching eyes Dean didn't appreciate. It felt only natural when he reached his hand over a tad, lacing his fingers with Castiel's. She glanced down, slightly surprised, but then her expression warmed, and she smiled up at Dean. Sam, surprisingly, didn't say anything. He just smiled at them. He was happy for his brother. Genuinely happy. After all the crazy shit they'd been through, the insane ups and downs, Dean deserved this. He needed it, and there was no one better for his brother than that angel. No matter what she looked like.

"This one." Cas said, halting them in front of one particular painting. It looked ancient, like it was painted two hundred years ago. It depicted a moderately sized family, an older looking man, who was assumed to be his wife, their three daughters and one son. And it was one hell of a creepy looking painting. Even without a supernatural homing signal, Dean was getting some bad vibes from the ugly old thing.

"You think it's haunted?" Sam asked, coming to stand on the other side of Castiel.

"I know it is. There is most certainly a restless spirit residing in this painting." Cas replied, holding a hand over it. She closed her eyes, her eyelids twitched, and she withdrew the hand, "A very, very, as you would say, 'pissed off' spirit." She added. Dean chuckled. He got an angel to curse.

"Well, that makes my life much, much easier." Came a female voice from behind them. A familiar female voice. One the brothers hadn't heard in over half a decade.

"Sarah?" Sam asked, spinning on his heel to face the mystery woman. Sarah Blake smiled up at him.

"Hi Sam. Long time, no see." Sarah said, giving them a grin, "And who's this?" she added, turning her attentions to Castiel.

"Long story. Let's trade notes." Dean cut in. This was about to get very interesting…

"An Angel of the Lord? You're joking." Sarah said for about the third time. Dean sighed. They were sitting in the motel room the Winchesters had just acquired themselves. Sarah had finished telling her own story about ten minutes before. After Sam and Dean had skipped town, once the haunted painting of the barber and his family had been taken care of, Sarah had used what she learned from the Winchesters, as well as some tricks she picked up on her own, to track down and destroy any haunted pieces of art she came across while working on auctions with her father. It certainly explained the lack of haunted objects the brothers had come across in the last couple of years. She was in Bryceland for the same reason as the Winchesters and Cas; to deal with what was now confirmed to be a haunted painting.

"Yeah. An Angel of the Lord." Sam said. He was still a little shocked to even see Sarah again. Dean knew, despite it all, his brother still kind of carried a touch for the girl.

"And you," Sarah said, turning to Dean, "how the hell did you score and angel? An honest-to-goodness angel. If I'm inclined to believe you." She added, eyeing Castiel with mild skepticism.

"An Angel of the Lord in recovery. Another long story." Dean added, a watchful eye on Cas.

"If you require proof, I think I can manage something minor without further weakening myself." She said, glancing over to Dean.

"You don't need my permission. Stop paying attention to the beginnings of those chick flicks you keep watching. I'm not the abusive ass hole from the beginning, I'm the shining knight from the end." Dean joked. Sam sighed loudly. Cas and Sarah looked confused.

"Ignore him Cas. Just, do whatever thing you were going to do." Sam said, turning back to his laptop. Castiel shrugged, rising from her seat on the arm of Dean's chair, standing with her back to a wall. She flexed her fingers a few times, and then sudden, inexplicable thunder boomed outside, and lightning flashed, illuminating the shadows of her wings on the motel wall. Dean looked on with fondness. Sam looked mildly interested, since he'd only seem them once before. Sarah looked totally amazed.

"Okay. So she's an angel of the Lord." Sarah finally said, after Cas sat back down, "Still can't believe she picked you." She added, looking back over at Dean.

"You think it's weird now, should have seen them when Cas had a dude vessel." Sam said off-handedly. Sarah looked like her eyes were going to bug out of her head. Dean very much wanted to kick Sam in the junk again.

"You were with a guy! YOU?" she exclaimed. Dean sighed heavily.

"You know what, story time later. Case time now." He said, effectively ending the argument. After a brief exchange of what they knew (which was not much), the four of them resolved to head back later that night, and burn the stupid thing. Cas made their lives a LOT easier, figuring out which painting was the haunted one. Normally, half the damn hunt was figuring out what the problem was. Dean had never been more grateful she wasn't going to fuck off back to Heaven any time soon.

"So, what have you been up to?" Sarah asked, as they drove back to the town hall at one that morning.

"Oh. This and that. Fought the devil. Went to hell a few times. Saved the world from the Apocalypse. Groped by an angel." Dean replied. Cas punched his arm. Sam applauded her. Dean was pretty sure she fractured the bone. At least her strength was back.

"You two… I thought you were crazy when I met you the first time." Sarah said, shaking her head at the brothers from the back seat. The rest of the operation went off (surprisingly) without a hitch. They got in (the security was shit), got the painting out (no night watchmen), and burned it in the field behind the town hall. Cas was pretty sure they vanquished the spirit. But they couldn't be positive until the morning. If the painting re-materialized at the auction, then they had to burn some bones. And more work to do.

"Is it me, or was that a little too easy?" Sam said on the ride back to the motel.

"I was just thinking the exact same thing." Dean replied.

"There is a possibility that there is more work to be done, if that's any consolation." Cas added from the backseat. Dean smiled at her in the rearview.

"Love you, angel." He said. Sam snorted obnoxiously. Dean ignored him, he was much too happy. Sarah was shaking her head.

"Never thought I'd see the day. And I only knew you for half a week." She said. Dean shrugged.

"Trip to hell and almost losing your brother and your best friend will change a guy." He replied, pulling into a parking stall in front of their room. Sarah had the suite next to theirs, and they bid her goodnight, after she exchanged a long, sad look with Sam. Dean had the desire to mash their faces together. They were being as dense as he and Cas used to be. And they didn't even have confusion over sexuality as an excuse. Dean shook his head at them, unlocking the door and wandering into the motel. Cas followed right behind him, and Sam entered a minute later. Sam continued to have his brooding bitchface on, until he noticed his brother strip off most of his clothes, and hop into one of the two beds. Cas emerged from the bathroom a second later, clad, once again, in Dean's old pajamas and band shirt. She perched on the bed next to him.

"You sure we don't need a second room?" Sam asked, feeling slightly awkward.

"No." Dean replied, wrapping an arm around his angel and pulling her down onto the bed. Sam decided, as nice as it was that they had each other, that would never not be weird for him. Especially since Cas used to be a dude, and Dean was definitely one of the most hetero guys Sam knew. And there was the other issue of him actually being friends with Cas. And Cas having pulled him out of hell… no, yeah, it was always going to be a bit weird.

"So, you two aren't…" Sam said, pointing between the two of them. Dean scowled at him, looking embarrassed.

"No, Sam. Not that it's any of your business." He retorted, "Now shut up and sleep. I'm tired." He added, turning off the light and pulling Cas in closer. Sam heard the soft sounds of his brother kissing the angel once, and then silence. Huh. Dean sleeping with a girl, but actually sleeping. This was new.

When Dean woke up the following morning, Sam was gone. His brother had left a note on the table, telling him that Sam had gone with Sarah to check out the painting that morning. Dean snickered. He could just imagine how bumbling and awkward his Gigantor brother was being around the poor girl. What she saw in Sam, he'd never know.

Dean moved quietly around the motel room, trying not to wake up Cas. He had a shower and got dressed, emerging from the bathroom to find her sitting up on their bed. Their bed. Dean still couldn't believe that he was sharing a bed with someone for an extended period of time. Or that he'd gone so long without sex. But honestly, sex only crossed his mind when Cas did something ridiculously sexual without even realizing it. Like dancing a Coyote Ugly on the bar or something like that. They were taking it slow. Cas was a virgin. He wasn't about to push her into something she wasn't ready for.

"Morning." Dean said, coming over to the side of the bed, and kissing Castiel quickly. She smiled at him.

"Good morning Dean." She replied, getting out of bed, and heading for the shower. Dean resisted the urge to follow her, and texted Sam instead. A moment later, his brother reentered their motel room.

"Well, painting's back." He said, tossing the keys on the table.

"How do you know?" Dean asked, rubbing his temples.

"Another death. Same as the others. Walked past the town hall at 4:30 this morning, found filleted in the back field. Population of this place is dropping faster than flies on dead meat." Sam replied, flipping open his laptop, "We gotta figure out who's spirit is screwing with people, so we can burn some bones." He added. Then someone knocked on the door.

"It's open." Dean shouted, and Sarah walked into the room.

"Found where the painting family is buried. It was easier than I expected. Only one cemetery in this town." She said, dropping some papers on the table, and take the seat next to Sam, "And we're even in luck. Bodies weren't cremated. The problem is, we don't know which spirit is the restless one. And I'm not sure about you boys, but I don't feel like digging up six bodies. That's going to take time, and I like these shoes." She added. Dean sighed.

"How did they die again?" Dean asked, browsing uninterestedly through the papers Sarah had brought, pointedly ignoring the looks she and his brother were giving each other when the other wasn't looking.

"Found murdered in their home morning before the big announcement that this Bumfuck was a town." Sam rattled off, clicking away on his laptop.

"And how were they murdered?" Dean asked.

"All of them had a bullet in their brains." Sarah replied, "The father, mother, and three daughters in the center of their foreheads, son in his right temple." She added.

"Why the hell was his different?" Dean asked, looking at some old crime scene photos.

"They thought whoever killed them got him first, snuck in the back door and hit him in the temple. At the sound of gunfire, the others were thought to have turned to face the intruder, and they got shot in the forehead." Sam said, reading from an old newspaper clipping.

"Or he shot all of them and then himself." Dean said.

"Why would he do that?" Sam asked.

"I dunno. Abusive father? Adopted? What do we know about the kid?" Dean asked, shrugging.

"He was the third child in the family, two older sisters, one younger. Father was town blacksmith, everyone held him in very high regard. Mother ran the ladies book club, and the knitting group. Just your average family in a little town in the late 1800's." Sarah said, flipping through more of the notes she'd brought over.

"Wait. Got something. Son was adopted." Sam said, spinning his laptop around, displaying for the other two people at the table an ancient certificate of adoption from the town's online archives.

"What happened to his birth family?" Sarah asked. Sam spun the laptop around, clicked a few buttons, and replied,

"Found dead in their home, bullet wounds to their foreheads." He replied.

"Think we have our guy." Dean said.

"We burn those bones before 4:30 tomorrow morning. Last thing we need is more dead people in this town. The last victim was a 16 year old kid." Sarah said.

"That is highly unfortunate. Loss of children is always a difficult occurrence." Cas said from behind them. She had finally emerged from the bathroom, clad in a fluffy bath towel with wet hair.

"What did you do? Use all the hot water in the town?" Dean teased. Cas looked confused.

"I find that a highly unlikely occurrence." She replied, moving to the duffel she was sharing with Dean, and extracting a pair of jeans, some underwear and a white tank with a fluffy male angel stretched across the chest.

"You think you could confirm if the boy is the ghost or not?" Sam asked. Cas shrugged.

"Probably. I'll need to be around the remains though." She replied, returning to the bathroom to change. Dean very not-subtly checked his angel out in her towel. Sam smacked his arm.

"The case, Dean, the case." Sam said.

"I am working on the case. That," he said, pointing to the bathroom, "is helping up finish the case in record time. I was just making sure she didn't… trip and fall on the way back to the bathroom." He said with a grin. Sam shook his head at his brother.

"Only you have the ability to take something as pure as an angel, and make her into a sex symbol." Sam said, and Sarah chuckled.

"You boys really are something. I missed you." She said, smiling up at the Winchesters. Dean smiled back amicably, and Sam had what looked like a face spasm. Oh yeah. That boy had it bad.

"I assume 9 o'clock in the morning is an unwise time to desecrate a grave in the only cemetery in town. Is there something productive we can do until then?" Cas asked, emerging once again from the bathroom.

"Oh, honey, we are going to talk about why it's bad to wear a black bra under a white shirt." Sarah said, shaking her head at the angel. Sam was pointed not looking at Cas, and Dean was trying not to laugh. Cas looked perfectly confused. How was she supposed to know that they could all perfectly see her sheer lace black bra through her angel shirt? Dean liked that bra.

"I didn't read that in any of the magazines." Cas said. Sarah smiled at her.

"Sweetheart, there are some things that the fashion magazines don't know." She replied, rising from the table and throwing a casual arm around Cas's shoulders, "We are going shopping. Meet you in the boneyard at midnight boys!" she called, leading Cas out the door. Sam was snickering at Dean's expression.

"She just shanghaied your angel. To take her shopping." He said between fits of laughter. Dean scowled at his brother.

"I was going to take her to a movie." He pouted. Sam scoffed.

"Yeah, so you could make out with her in the back of the theatre." He replied.

"Shut up. She's never been to a theatre before. The closest she's gotten was that time she watched porn in our motel room when she was a dude." Dean shot back.

"Yeah, and later that day, she kissed Meg." Sam teased.

"I don't like thinking about that." Dean replied, sticking his tongue out at his brother.

"Are you twelve? Jerk." Sam said, shaking his head at Dean.

"Bitch."

"Oh yes. His spirit is defiantly the spirit I felt in the painting." Cas said. Dean and Sam turned to see the angel approaching with Sarah.

"Well, good, because I really don't want to dig up all of these." Dean said, waving his shovel at the six ancient headstones they were standing in front of.

"You were going to dig?" Cas asked, sounding mildly surprised. She flicked a hand at the grave of the adopted son, and in a blink, all the dirt was sitting next to the headstone, and the rotting pine coffin was neatly uncovered. Dean smiled down at the angel who had come to stand next to him.

"Baby, I love you." He said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling Cas up for a kiss. Sam shook his head, poking his brother with a shovel.

"Come on, you two, break it up. Let's do this fast. I want to torch that paining for good before 4:30. Be doubly sure." Sam said. Dean reluctantly released Castiel, and jumped into the grave with his brother. They tore through the lid, salted up the bones, covered them gas, and climbed out. Sarah had the honors of setting the matchbook aflame, and dropping it. The quartet stood there for almost an hour, until there was nothing but ash left in the hole. Cas flicked her fingers, and the grave filled back up, appearing completely untouched.

"Man, what I wouldn't have given for you that time we were on the run from the Feds. Or that other time we were on the run from the Feds." Dean said, walking hand-in-hand with his angel to the car.

"Oh, yeah! I remember. I saw you on the news a few times Dean. The great serial killer from St Louis. And then you held up a bank in Wisconsin. Good times." Sarah commented as she hopped into the back of the Impala.

"I friggen' hate shifters." Dean grumbled as he started the car's engine. They headed back, once again, to the town hall, broke in again (how did these people not notice their town hall had been broken into twice?), and took the painting out to the spot where the five victims were found the mornings after they were slaughtered by the ghost. Dean coated the ugly painting in gas and salt, and Sam lit it up. They stayed to make sure the blaze remained contained, and Dean kicked around the ashes when the fire was out. They all got back into the Impala and returned to the motel. Sarah, citing exhaustion, disappeared into her room for the night. Cas angel mojoed her pajamas on as soon as they walked in the door, and crawled into bed. Sam and Dean didn't even bother changing clothes. They just clambered into their beds, Dean pulling Cas close, and Sam trying to tell himself he didn't want to do the same with Sarah.

"Oh, Dad, finally! I was beginning to think I'd never find you two idiots. Stupid Enochien symbols on your ribs. If Cas wasn't dead, I'd kill him." Someone said in a very loud voice at what was assumed to be 6am. A loud voice the brothers thought they'd never hear again.

"Gabriel? How…?" Sam sputtered, and Dean cut in.

"How are you not dead!" he shouted, wrapping an arm a little tighter around Cas. She was right there in the room, but Gabriel was still under the impression she was dead.

"Well, seeing as Heaven was short on Archangels, Daddy Dearest sought it fit to resurrect one of them, and put them in charge of Heaven. And guess which lucky bastard got saddled with that gig?" Gabriel said sarcastically, pointing both his thumbs towards himself. Dean snorted.

"You? In charge of Heaven? Did you turn the clouds into cotton candy yet?" Dean mocked. Gabriel scowled at him.

"Actually, it's not a bad gig. Cassy, bless his Grace, got rid of all Raphael's crazy followers, so all that's left are the mooks who don't know any better than to do whatever I say. It's like my own little angel farm." Gabriel joked. Sam shook his head.

"So, what do you want? You didn't come down here just to tell us they made you Head Boy of Heaven." Sam asked. Gabe shrugged.

"I wanted to give you my belated congrats on derailing the Apocalypse you somehow got me to die for. And to ask about my brother." He replied. Sam and Dean both glanced quickly at Cas, who was sitting very still, eyes rapt on the Archangel.

"What about Cas?" Dean asked, arm tightening around her instinctively.

"About how you two managed to get him killed. How the fuck did that happen?" he demanded. The brothers shrugged.

"Dude did stuff behind our back. We didn't know he was going after Purgatory until it was pretty much too late." Dean replied, rubbing soothing circles on Castiel's lower back. He knew this was the last thing she wanted to hear about. It was at this moment Gabriel suddenly seemed to realize there was a third person in the room.

"And who the hell is this? You're with a girl? And you've still got your clothes on?" he added, training his gaze on Cas. She met his eyes easily.

"Yeah. What's it to you?" Dean muttered. He was really tired of that…

"Either she's your sister, which I doubt, or you actually give a shit about this one. And you never gave a shit about anyone. Not even my brother. Who was so desperately in love with you, it was damn sad." Gabriel continued on, eyeing Cas with suspicion.

"She's definitely not our sister." Sam said. Gabe was uncharacteristically silent for a few minutes, then spoke without warning.

"She is Castiel, isn't she?" he said, expression not changing. He was still eyeing her with scrutiny and suspicion.

"And what if she was?" Dean asked. Gabe surprised all present parties by smiling.

"Then that would be okay. Because Cas was definitely my favorite, and I miss him like crazy. Heaven sure as hell doesn't want him back, but I do. And if this girl was theoretically Cas, I would promise to leave well enough alone. Heaven would still be under the impression the Angel of Thursday is dead, and she could stick around on earth with her pet." He concluded, grinning at Cas. It was obvious he already knew for certain who she was. Probably knew from the moment he noticed her in the room. He was second only to God now. Cas was grinning back at her older brother.

"You would really do that for me Gabriel?" she asked, climbing off the bed to stand before the Archangel.

"Hell yeah, Cassy. After the favor you did me killing off all those SOB's? I'll make sure none of the ones left know you're down here. Hell, I'll even return you power to what it was after God resurrected you the second time. I need a good connection on earth, and I most certainly would like that connection connected to these Winchester idiots. They always seem to be at the middle of the shit-show." He concluded. Cas grinned radiantly at him, giving the Archangel a most unexpected hug. Old Cas didn't do the hugging thing. Dean blamed it on the hormones in her new vessel.

"So… that's it? You're just going to turn a blind eye and pretend like Cas is still dead?" Sam asked, unwilling to believe their luck. Winchester luck was rarely, if ever, good.

"Yup. You probably need Cas more than I do. Especially since Dean finally got it through his incredibly thick skull what he was missing. You'd be wise to do the same, Sammy boy. I'll be in touch." Gabe concluded, vanishing in the next second. The two brothers and the angel stood blinking at the spot he vanished from for a few minutes.

"That was… unexpected. But pleasant. I missed Gabriel as well." Cas remarked, moving to retrieve clothes out of her and Dean's duffle.

"That seemed way too easy." Dean said, a wary eye on his angel. Cas shrugged.

"Gabriel was always very lax. And we have always preferred each other over our other brothers and sisters. And if he is running Heaven the way I expect Father told him to, he's going to want someone to come to get away from it all. And what better company to keep than his favorite fallen angel and her pets?" she teased, shutting the bathroom door. Sam shook his head.

"You are a horrible influence on her." He announced, getting out of bed. A moment later, their locked clicked, and Sarah burst into the room.

"Guys! I heard shouting, and another voice, and… oh. You're both fine… am I losing it?" Sarah asked. Dean chuckled.

"We gotta fix your lock-picking abilities. I heard you ten minutes ago. And you're not losing it. There was someone else here. Cas's older brother, Gabriel." Dean replied. She cocked an eyebrow.

"Gabriel? The Archangel you said was dead? Came to see Cas, the angel Heaven is supposed to think is dead?" Sarah asked for clarification. Sam nodded.

"Yup. Turns out, God resurrected him, put him in charge of Heaven, and he likes Cas best. So he promised to keep her cover, as long as he can come visit occasionally to get away from the responsibility of it all. Gabe hates responsibility, but he was pretty much the only choice the Big Man Upstairs had when it came to Archangels he could leave in charge." Sam replied, standing idle by the bathroom, trying not to stare at Sarah, who was only wearing her very small pajama shorts and a tank top. It was a great testament to just how committed Dean was to Castiel, due to the fact that he hadn't even looked twice at the beautiful woman in very little clothing. He had his own beautiful woman, but she emerged from the bathroom in a pair of Dean's old sweatpants and a blue tank. Dean thought she still looked sexy as fuck.

"So… I was going to ship out later today, my dad is working an exhibit in Shreveport, and I was going to go up and give him a hand." Sarah said casually, once Sam had shut the bathroom door.

"Why?" Cas asked, seeming confused.

"Well, I'm not needed here anymore, and you don't need me, so why stick around?" She replied. Cas looked sad.

"But we had such fun at the department store. And the diner." Cas said, "I've never had a 'girlfriend' before." Sarah smiled affectionately at the angel. Dean chuckled.

"You know, you are welcome to stick around. Cas likes you, which is a big friggen deal, and Sam… Sam wouldn't mind at all. Besides, you seem to be one hell of a ghost hunter." Dean said, shrugging, "Besides, we need all the help we can get when it comes to our latest problem. You know about old stuff. You can help Sammy with his Leviathan research." Dean added. Sarah shrugged.

"Beats taking the bus up to Shreveport. I'll tell dad I got a better… job offer." Sarah said. Dean laughed.

"You'll be taking that back soon enough." Dean replied, slightly bitter. They would have continued this depressing vibe, until Cas jumped up off the bed, gasping loudly.

"Dean!" she exclaimed, looking at her hands. Dean was at her side in an instant, hands on her shoulders.

"Cas, what?" he asked, freaking out. Sam burst out of the bathroom a second later.

"What? What's wrong?" he shouted. Sarah was at the angel's side as well.

"I… I think…" she looked up into Dean's eyes, and blinked once. A moment later, they were all standing on a beach. In San Diego. Castiel didn't even flinch.

"Gabriel restored your full powers?" Dean said, awed, as he looked around the deserted stretch of sand.

"So it would seem." She whispered, glancing at her hands again, "It would also be safe to assume he gave me an… upgrade." She added.

"Upgrade?" Sam inquired.

"He matched my powers with his own. I am, essentially, an Archangel." She replied, seeming stunned. Dean, on the other hand, looked forcibly happy.

"That's great angel." He said, giving her a hug. A second later, the four of them were back in the motel in Bryceland.

"Come on, let's pack up. We should hit the road." Sam said. Dean nodded, and began throwing shit into a duffle. Sarah moved back to her motel room, to pack up her own things. Cas vanished with her and Dean's things, presumably out to the Impala. Sam eyed his brother, who had let the mildly happy expression on his face fade to a deep scowl, "Alright dude. Spit it out. What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"Nothing." Dean replied curtly, in the tone he always used when he didn't want to talk about what was really feeling. Like when dad died. Or before he went to hell. Or before Sam went to hell…

"Yeah. Nothing. Ten minutes ago you were checking that angel out like she was a hot stripper in a bar. Now, you look at her, and you look sad. Why are you sad?" Sam demanded. Dean refused to meet his brother's eyes.

"I'm not sad."

"Uh huh. Then you're pissed."

"I'm not pissed! Especially not at Cas!" he shouted.

"Then, dude, what the hell is wrong!" Sam shouted back.

"She's an Archangel!" Dean bellowed. This brought Sam up short.

"… So?"

"So, what does that mean to you?" Dean spit, returning to roughly tossing weapons in a duffle.

"That she's ten times as powerful as she was yesterday and is going to make taking on those Leviathan ten times easier?" Sam replied. Dean snorted.

"And what's going to happen after that, huh? She beats the fuckers she let out of Purgatory, redeems herself in the eyes of whatever angels she didn't kill when she went dark side, and is welcomed back upstairs by the man in charge, who just happens to be her favorite brother. Sam, don't you see? She's going to go back, and I'm going to lose her. Hell, even if she stays, she's a full angel again. She's not going to age. What kind of relationship are we going to have if I'm a disgusting old man, and she still looks the way she does?" Dean demanded, throwing the last of their things into the bag and storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Sam sighed. Cas appeared next to him, making the younger Winchester jump.

"He's upset." She said, looking very upset. Sam sighed.

"How much did you hear? Or should I say, how long were you standing right there, invisible?" Sam asked. Castiel sighed.

"I came as soon as I heard you ask him what was wrong. Angel hearing." She added, when she saw Sam look at her incredulously.

"He's freaking out, Cas. I've never seen him get that emotional over a relationship. He only freaks out like that over family." Sam said, hoping Cas understood the gravity of such a statement. She seemed to, judging by the fact that the angel looked like she was going to cry. Hormones again, Sam assumed. You'd think the angel had PMS.

"I… am unsure how to approach this situation Sam." She said. Sam sighed.

"You got me on this one, Cas. I've never dealt with my brother and a girl like this before." He replied. Castiel sighed.

"I suppose I could summon Gabriel back, have him strip the powers away. I could live out a human existence with him, give him the family he's always wanted." She said. Sam shook his head.

"He'd lose his shit if he found out you gave up Archangeldom to be with him." He replied. Cas scowled.

"Then what am I to do Sam! I want to stay with him, make him happy, give him whatever he wants. I love your brother Sam. I always have, and I always will. If I have to give up my Grace for him, I will. It's not like it would be the first time I've done so." She retorted. Sam sighed.

"Is there no other way?" he asked. Cas sighed as well.

"I don't… oh. Well, that's helpful." Cas suddenly said, eyeing her hands again, "I thought it was just a reaction to the return of my power." She added. Sam started at her.

"Care to elaborate for me here, Cas?" he demanded. She turned her big blue eyes on the younger Winchester.

"This vessel seems to be aging. Which is… unusual. It appears that while I still retain all the power and status of an Archangel, this vessel will age and die at a normal human rate." She replied.

"So… you're going to get old?" Sam asked.

"Well, the vessel containing me will. I assume this is Gabriel's doing. If the vessel containing me is allowed to die in a normal, human way, then it will be permitted to have its own Heaven, a Heaven which I can come and go from as I please, staying inconspicuous. I doubt my brothers and sisters want me back… upstairs, as you and Dean have taken to calling it. But I can return without them knowing if I return to my own, personal, human Heaven." She replied.

"So… you can live a human life with my brother, still have bad ass Archangel powers, and then die and go to a Heaven you will presumably share with your soul mate. Who is more than likely my brother." Sam asked. Cas nodded slowly.

"We can only be certain once Dean and I both die." She replied. Sam couldn't help but laugh. Now that was a Castiel answer.

"You should probably tell Dean about the new development." He said. Cas looked over at the motel door.

"Why? He's been standing there since he realized I wasn't in the car." She replied. A moment later, the door opened slowly, revealing a slightly sheepish Dean.

"Are you sure?" he asked, eyeing his angel. She nodded.

"This vessel is most certainly aging. I believe it is safe to assume it retains all the other human functions as well. And I still retain the power and Grace my brother bestowed on me." She replied. Dean's face cracked into a genuine smile.

"That's great Cas. I'm really… happy, to hear that." Dean finally said, struggling over emotion like he always did. Sam felt comforted in that fact. It was the most normal his brother had acted in a long time.

"Do you two need a minute, or are we hitting the road?" Sam finally said, after five minutes of the two of them just standing there. Dean seemed to snap out of it first, slinging an arm around Cas's shoulders, and leading her out to the car. Sam shook his head. It was only a matter of time before his brothers resolve broke. Virgin or no virgin, Dean was going to sleep with his angel. Sam was willing to bet it would happen within the week. He might have even teased them about it, until he spotted Sarah pulling her bag in the trunk, and hoping into the back of the Impala. Cas slid next to her, and Dean started the engine.

"Sam, you gonna stand out there all day, or are we gonna hit the road?" he shouted. Sam shook himself out of it, and climbed into shotgun. This was going to be a long ride…

"No, seriously, tell me again why Sarah's with us?" Sam asked for the tenth time. Dean sighed. They were sitting outside a gas station truck stop, where Sarah had dragged Cas to teach her some human female thing or another. Dean had never been more thankful for another woman's presence in his life.

"Because I asked her if she wanted to join Team Free Will." He joked.

"Dean."

"Sam."

"Dude. Why?" Sam complained.

"I thought you'd be happy. Besides, we need all the help we can get on this Leviathan thing, Cas needs a female mentor, because I'm not handling that shit, and you totally still carry the torch for her." Dean replied. Sam shut up for almost a full minute.

"... Do not." He mumbled. Dean chuckled.

"And that, Sammy, confirms it for me. Dude, she was the first girl you even looked at after Jessica. And we almost stayed in town so you could spend some time with her before we fucked off to wherever we fucked off to. And you clearly stuck with her, if she took up ghost hunting. Come on man, don't be as dumb about her as I was about Cas." Dean said. Sam snorted.

"It is literally impossible for anyone to be as dumb about anyone else as you were with Cas. Even Gabriel saw it, and he saw you two together for a grand total of two minutes." Sam teased. Dean punched his arm.

"Shut up." He bit back, as the females returned to the Impala.

"I still don't understand why it has to hurt so badly. My male vessel did not have these problems. They're awful." Castiel was grumbling. For a second, Dean was going to ask he what was hurting, but then he thought better of himself. Only certain things could pain a female, aging angel. Dean didn't wanna know.

"So… what now?" Sarah asked as they turning onto the highway. Sam shrugged.

"We travel around. Look for a job." He replied. She scrunched up her nose.

"Seriously? You just piss around in this car for days?" she said. Dean snorted

"Told you it wasn't a better job offer than that auction in Shreveport." He said. Sarah laughed.

"Honestly? This sounds great. I like the open road, with you two crazy Winchesters and your angel. Excuse me, undercover archangel." She added, grinning at Cas. Cas snorted.

"My brother was an undercover archangel. I am merely… a special human." She said. Dean snorted in return.

"Cas, you are the far from human. And it's awesome." He added, and Castiel smiled at him in the rearview.

"Get a room." Sam joked. Dean ignored him, and turned the music up louder.

"Who the hell is this now? You boys collecting females?" Bobby grumbled when he saw Sarah get out of the back of the Impala five days later. They hadn't found a job while on the road, so the team had headed back up to Bobby's, for lack of a better idea.

"No. She's a ghost hunter. And a damn good one." Dean replied, following Cas into the house.

"She don't look like a ghost hunter." Bobby said when the five of the all convened in the kitchen.

"Yeah, that would be our fault. She got involved in a ghost hunt with us in New York. Seems we rubbed off on her a bit." Sam said, grinning at her. Sarah smiled back, and Dean exchanged a look with Bobby. Bobby could even see the tiger heat between the two of them.

"Well," Bobby said after a while, "she's better than those other two idjits. With the half assed web show."

"The Ghostlookers or whoever?" Dean said.

"Ghostfacers." Cas said. Everyone looked at her like she had grown a second head.

"The hell did you know that?" Dean asked, incredulous.

"I spoke with them once. I, at the time, believed they were to witness the coming Apocalypse. I learned I was sorely mistaken." She replied. Dean snickered.

"I bet we could find that episode on their website." He said. Sam already had his laptop on the table.

"You were right. Look at that. Cas, fucking with the Ghostfacers. I'm so proud of you." Sam said, grinning up at the angel. She looked confused.

"They are stupider than I remember them being." She said mildly, watching the screen with almost disinterest. Dean was howling with laughter.

"Man, I didn't know you had it in you to be that funny." He said, wrapping an arm around the angel. She shrugged.

"They were very stubborn. And the only thing they had right was the salt. Did they learn nothing from the two of you?" she asked. Dean chuckled.

"We're pretty sure they have something wrong with them." He replied. Sam snorted.

"Something? More like everything." He said. The brothers both laughed, remembering their encounter with the amateur ghost hunters in Texas.

"Here's an idea; why don't we look into something important? Like Leviathan. And how to kill 'em." Bobby cut in. Dean sighed.

"Yeah. Where's your old book collection at?"

By the next day at noon, they still had a big fat nothing. The Leviathan predated earth itself, and God locked them in Purgatory very, very shortly after creation. They were lucky the fucking things were even mentioned in ancient lore books at all.

"So… this is what you do when you're not on the road? Hole up in this place with Bobby and read books?" Sarah asked.

"Pretty much." Dean replied from his spot in the arm chair, Castiel on his lap, his arms around her waist. They were 'reading' the same old book. Well, Cas was reading. Dean was kissing her neck and earlobes, trying desperately to break the angels focus. She was a stone. Sam thought it was amazing.

"I like it." Sarah said, and Sam snorted.

"What is wrong with you?" he joked. Dean snickered.

"Told you to marry her." He said, causing Sam and Sarah to flush crimson.

"Are they for real?" Bobby muttered from his desk. Dean shook his head.

"Almost as bad as me and Cas." He replied. Cas turned a little to meet his eyes out of the corner of hers.

"I never made a secret of my feelings. You were just too dense and slightly homophobic to realize your own." She retorted.

"Dude, you were the most awkward thing on earth. You just came off weird." Dean replied. Sam was laughing.

"You two are ridiculous." He said. Dean stuck his tongue out at his brother.

"Not as ridiculous as you two boys. You bicker like a couple of girls." Bobby said gruffly from his chair. Sarah shook her head.

"What have I gotten myself into?" she asked to no one in particular.

"A big fucking disaster." Dean replied.

"WHERE is Cas?" Dean demanded. The Winchesters and their posse had been at Bobby's for a couple of days. The night before, Dean had fallen asleep with his arms around Cas, and this morning, she was gone. He had freaked out, and stormed downstairs.

"The hell are you asking us?" Bobby grumbled from over his coffee mug.

"Because, she's not in our room. So where is she?" he demanded. Sam shook his head.

"Dean, wherever she went, I'm sure she'd fine. She's only just an Archangel." Sam said. Dean glared hard at his brother, roughly pouring himself a coffee and stomping into the library, where he promptly paced in front of the window, grumbling to himself and not really drinking his coffee. Sam came in to harass him after half an hour of this bizarre routine.

"Shut up."

"I haven't even said anything!" Sam protested.

"Yeah, but I know what you're going to say, and I don't wanna hear it." Dean retorted, taking a big swing of his cold coffee.

"Dean… I'm sure she's fine. Not much can get at her lately. We should really send Gabe a basket of candy or something." He joked. Dean continued to glare.

"Why the hell wouldn't she tell me she was going somewhere?" he asked quietly. Sam put a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"I'm sure she has a good reason." Dean shook his head.

"Sam, I almost had a freaking breakdown when I woke up this morning! She could be anywhere, anyone could be with her! Anyone could have taken her! Sam, she's dead! She's the angel equivalent of us in, like, ten states. No one up there knows about her but Gabriel. What if someone else found out? It would be smite first, ask questions later. And I'd lose her. Sam, I've already lost Cas four times, and by some miracle, that friggen' angel come back after every single one of them. No matter how many times she gets herself blown up, she always managed to come back. And Sam, I'm scared, scared that the next time that happens, we're not going to be so lucky." Dean ranted, resuming his pacing. Sam sighed. He really couldn't counter that. He was trying to think of a decent response when someone softly cleared their throat from behind the two brothers.

"To be fair, I didn't think my task would take as long as it did. And even if an angel other than Gabriel was to learn of my continued existence, I do technically rank higher than they do, and I would be the one doing the smiting." A not-so-mysterious voice said. The brothers whipped around to see Cas standing there, dressed oddly formally, looking properly sheepish. Dean didn't say anything, crossing the room in two strides, wrapping his arms around the angel in a death grip that would have crushed a lesser woman.

"Don't you ever do that again." He said, pulling away to place an almost violent kiss on Castiel's lips. Cas seemed slightly shocked, then reciprocated the kiss. Sam cleared his throat after a few minutes.

"Care to elaborate for us, Cas? You almost gave my brother heart failure." He added. Dean reluctantly pulled away from his angel, but stood ready for an explanation. And damn, how hadn't he noticed what she was wearing? Where on earth Cas had managed to find a feminine version of that fucking trench coat, Dean will never know.

"I was… in Hawaii." She finally said. The brothers blinked a few times rapidly.

"…why?" Dean asked. Castiel sighed.

"I was visiting Jimmy's family. His wife and their daughter. They left the continental USA after the whole ordeal with the demons; decided they needed a fresh start somewhere else. I… felt I owed them an explanation as to why they really were never going to see Jimmy again. That I got his body blown up." She replied. Dean's expression softened.

"And how did that go?" he asked. She sighed.

"They were surprised to see me, to say the least. At first they thought I was Jessie, who they were informed went missing. It seems Jimmy's family was the closest living relatives Jessie had left. When I told them I was Castiel, they assumed the truth. That Jimmy was really gone. It… comforted them, I believe, to know that he'd vacated the vessel long before I got it destroyed. They appreciated me coming to explain, at the very least." She said. Dean gave her a hug, and Sam patted Cas on the shoulder.

"You did good, Cas. I'm sure they were happy to hear Jimmy's at least in a better place." Sam said. Cas nodded.

"Just… don't up and vanish on me like that again, okay?" Dean added. Cas nodded.

"I truly am story. I didn't realize I'd be staying with them so long. Claire had many questions, and I felt… obligated to answer. She's a very endearing young woman, and I felt like I needed to make it up to her for possessing her those few years ago." She replied. Dean nodded, slowly, turning his attention to what she was wearing. It was a black suit, with a blue tie, and a fucking tan trench coat.

"They hell did you find this get-up?" he finally asked. Sam snickered, and Cas looked confused.

"The clothing store. I felt it appropriate, since it resembles what Jimmy wore that last time they saw him." She relied. Dean shook his head.

"I lose track of you for ten minutes, and you're back in a trench coat." He said, chuckling. Cas shrugged, vanishing for a few seconds. When she popped back into the library, she was wearing what had become her standard uniform: a pair of beat up jeans, sneakers, and a tank top.

"Better?" she inquired. Dean grinned at her.

"Much." He joked, kissing her.

Dean didn't let Castiel out of his sight for the rest of the day. No matter how many subtle (and not so subtle) hints Sam dropped about his brothers weird proximity to the angel, Dean still didn't let her get more than three feet away from him. And later that evening, when Castiel shut the door to what was now considered 'their' room, Dean had her pinned up against the old oak surface, doing his best to kiss the Grace out of that angel. She had really scared the hell out of him today. When Dean finally relinquished her out of his own need to breath, she looked surprised.

"What was that for?" Cas whispered. Dean leaned his forehead against hers.

"Just… because." He replied flippantly. This was an immediate sign to Cas that something was bothering him.

"Is this about my errand this morning?" she inquired. Dean still had her pinned to the door, but the hunter was more than aware that this was only because she was letting him pin her. And that was a very big turn on.

"No… yes. You freaked the hell out of me, Cas. Leave a note or something next time." He finally replied, smashing their lips together again. He allowed Cas to push him forward, until they both tumbled onto their squeaky old bed.

"I am sorry. I swear I didn't think it would take so long. But… I owed them the truth, and I just cannot seem to say no to Jimmy's daughter." She replied. Dean chuckled into her neck.

"Kids can do that to ya." He said simply, dragging a few lazy kisses along his angel's neck and collarbone, before capturing her lips again, rolling them so he was on top. This was usually the point where Dean forced himself to calm the fuck down. He did not want to push Cas too fast, especially tonight. He already thought he lost her once today, no way he was going to actually lose her (even if it was just to the couch downstairs) tonight.

However, his angel surprised him when she started toying with the hem of his t-shirt, seemingly wanting it off. This notion became very apparent when in the next moment, Dean found himself shirtless. Angel mojo. Cas's hands moved slowly across the plains of Dean's chest and abs, seemingly mapping it out for her own purposes. It gave Dean goose bumps, it felt so damn good. He tentatively ran his own hands across Castiel's stomach, slipping one hand under her shirt. Cas shivered, kissing him with more enthusiasm than before. Dean took this as a good sign. Dean aloud his hands to wander down Castiel's sides, and eased them slowly up her shirt. Cas rolled them suddenly, so she straddled his hips, and she pulled the shirt off herself, leaning back down to kiss him.

The sensation of Cas's lace bra and bare skin against Deans chest was mind blowing, so he wound his arms around the angels back, pressing her as close to him as he could. Cas's thighs squeezed Deans hips, in her own attempt to get as close to the hunter as she possibly could. Dean took in a sharp breath when he felt Cas's hands opening the button of his jeans.

"Is this alright?" she breathed against his lips.

"It's much more that alright." Dean replied, lifting his hips off the bed to help her get his jeans off. She left his boxers on. Dean rolled them again, hands reaching for the button of Cas's jeans. She gave him a kiss of encouragement, pushing her hips off up the bed so Dean could slide her pants off in one easy move. He tried not to gape at the sight of Cas's sexy black lace panties, which matched her equally sexy black lace bra. Dean didn't think he'd ever find underwear that attractive when they were still on a woman. Running his hands along the angel's stomach, and then up her sides, he paused briefly when his fingers met the soft lace. In response, Cas flipped them again, leaning down to kiss Dean, sliding his hands to the clasp of her bra. Dean needed no further incentive, snapping it open with practiced ease, and tossing it in the general direction of the floor.

This time, Dean openly stared, making Cas blush and avert her eyes. Dean reached up, grasping her chin gently, and pulling her down for a kiss. The sensation of the angel's bare chest against his own was electrifying, and she radiated warmth. Dean let his hands wander, one curling around the back of the angel's neck, the other ghosting down to caress her right breast. Cas gasped into Dean's mouth, her whole body shivering once. His angel momentarily distracted, Dean rolled them over again, pinning her underneath him.

Dean kissed her lips once more, before trailing kisses down the angel's neck, across her collarbone, to the top of her left breast. He paused, eyes flicking up to meet Cas's, a silent question. In response, Cas tangled her fingers in Dean's hair, pressing his face closer to her chest. Dean wasted no time after that, taking her left breast into his mouth, sucking and biting and licking it gently, making Cas gasp and moan, while his hand toyed with the right twin.

Once he was satisfied with the left, he moved over to the right, giving it the same loving treatment. By the time he was finished, Cas was panting for air, completely flushed, pupils so lust blown, Dean could barely see the blue anymore. He surged up over her to capture the angel's lips in a fiery passionate kiss, sucking on her tongue after she nibbled on his bottom lip.

Castiel had a case of the wandering hands as well, because while they were kissing, Dean felt a hand trail down his chest, across his hip, and toy momentarily with the elastic of his boxers. A second later, Cas's hand slipped underneath the thin fabric to grasp Dean's cock, and he gasped, biting down lightly on the angels bottom lip. She gave it a gentle, yet firm squeeze, and Dean moaned loudly into the Cas's mouth.

"Is that… did I do that correctly?" Cas asked, her voice quivering slightly. Dean grinned into their kiss.

"It's perfect Cas, fantast… FUCK!" Dean exclaims when the angel tightens her grip, rolling a thumb over the already leaking head of his dick. He felt the angel smirk against his lips as she started to move her hand in long, languid strokes, making Dean groan into her neck, where he's hidden his face. He stopped her after several minutes, when he felt dangerously close to the edge. Cas looked worried.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked, shy and timid. Dean shook his head, panting for air.

"No, no, you were perfect. I just don't want this to be over before we even get started." He breathed in reply, hooking a finger into the waistband of Cas's panties. He looked up at her in question. Cas hooked a finger into Dean's boxers in response. After a few false starts and more than a little clumsiness, they were both finally, completely naked, bared to one another as much as they could be. Dean kissed the skin between Cas's breasts, easing his fingers down over her opening. She gasped when he trailed a finger over it lightly.

"Don't… don't stop." She gasped. Dean grinned into the skin of her neck, and slowly, teasingly parted the folds, relishing in how wet he could make Cas with just a little foreplay. He slipped one finger in easily, and the angel bucked up into him. "OH!"

"Shhh, Cas, relax," Dean mumbled into her neck, pulling up to press his lips to the angel's, "I got you." He added, sliding his finger out a bit, then back in. Cas whined in the back of her throat, eagerly kissing him, rocking her hips slightly. Dean picked up the pace a little, adding another finger. Jessie was definitely not a virgin when Cas possessed her, but Cas's reactions to even the littlest of touches reminded him that his angel had been chaste for millennia. He had to make this good for her.

"Dean," she begged, "Dean, not enough, need you, I need you in me. Make love to me, Dean." Cas panted, clutching his shoulder and kissing him furiously. Dean didn't need telling twice. He slid his fingers back out, and reached blindly for his pants on the floor, fishing out his wallet. From his wallet, he grabbed a condom, ripping the wrapper off with his teeth, and sliding it onto his dick in under 20 seconds. He lined himself up, and sheathed himself in Cas, making the angel gasp and claw into his shoulders. He was going to have marks in the morning. Dean grinned at the thought, easing out, and moving back in. Cas's hands were all over him, biting in to his shoulders and biceps, dragging claw marks up and down his back. He had one hand braced on the angel's hip, covering most of that tattoo his still hadn't had a chance to inspect. The other was twisted in Castiel's hair, keeping his lips to hers as he started to pick up the pace, going faster, harder, whatever she wanted as the angel moaned and writhed under him.

He could feel himself getting closer, inching towards completion at an astounding pace. Cas made him feel like his whole body was on fire, lighting up places in him that he didn't even know he had until he met the angel. Cas was falling apart beneath him, the normally stoic and composed angel losing control and he pushed her closer to her own orgasm. Quite suddenly, Cas gasped, her nails digging viciously into Dean's sides, and she clamped around him, throwing her head back and moaning out her orgasm. The sensation of Cas tightening around him sent Dean over the edge after her, groaning into the angel's lips and seizing up in her arms.

As Dean came down from his high, he became aware of his angel panting below him, staring up into his face like he was a gift from Heaven itself. He slipped out, pulling of the condom, tying it up and tossing it in the trash. As he laid down next to her, listening to his own heavy breathing, Dean honestly couldn't remember a happier moment in his life.

"Alright Cas?" he asked, surprised at how out of breath he still sounded. The angel nodded wordlessly.

"Better than alright." She breathed. Dean chuckled, turning onto his side and tugging her against him.

"Worth the wait?" he joked. Cas gave him her best attempt at a scathing look.

"What do you think?" she asked, turning and kissing his forehead. Dean nuzzled into her neck, suddenly feeling very tired. Cas sighed under the arm he had slung across her, and dozed off. Dean smiled into the angel's neck, bringing her in close enough for him to wrap himself around her, falling asleep soon after.

Nothing else seemed to matter to Dean anymore. Sure, they had Leviathan to kill, extra mouths to feed, more motel rooms to rent and general stress all the time; but Dean was happy. He had Cas back, the angel that had grown to be one of the most important people in his life, one of the few people he would do absolutely anything for. And it wasn't just because she was dynamite in the sack by the third time they'd done it. It wasn't that he finally got to look at (and lick) the tattoo of a turtle on her hip, and it wasn't that she was nothing but an advantage on every hunt they'd been on since she joined up with them permanently.

It was because of how much he loved her. Dean loved that angel so much, sometimes it was all he could think about. Sam ridiculed him relentlessly for it, but then he'd always point out Sam's puppy love for Sarah, and how it took him almost a full month after she joined up to finally make his move.

It was good; life was good. Everything was good. They'd find a way to beat the Leviathan. They'd save the world. Again. And Dean would do it all with his brother and his angel by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> Edit:
> 
> Hi! Just in case anyone was interested, I am on tumblr! Check me out
> 
> somenights1993.tumblr.com


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